Anthrax Vaccine n Water Wars n Debating the Draft THE AMERICAN

$2.50 June 2003 The magazine for a strong America MILITARY

“For God and Country since 1919

NOVEMBER 2004 Vol. 157, No. 5 features 12 Missing Pieces From World War I to WMDs, U.S. history 21ST-CENTURY is a stark reminder that intelligence is ARMY 18 seldom perfect. By Alan W. Dowd 18 Q&A: A Blueprint for the Green Lt. Gen. Mark Curran of the Army’s Futures Center describes the force’s 21st-century transformation. 24 How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today’s World? UP CLOSE AND Celebrity writer says a life lived to help PERSONAL 26 others is the only life that matters. By Ben Stein 26 Back from Baghdad War correspondent Karl Zinsmeister delivers fi rsthand balance from the front lines. 32 Meaningful Moments At a convention featuring presidential candidates, generals and cabinet secretaries, U.S. troops mattered most. By Steve Brooks CONSPIRACY Cpl. Terrence Van Doorn enjoys a few THEORIES 54 54 Modern Mythology moments with his wife, Stephanie, and From faked moon landings to alien 1-year-old daughter, Azaliyah, before autopsies, we live in a golden age of shipping out to Iraq. Van Doorn’s infantry conspiracy theories. battalion is assigned to 1st Marine By Dennis McCafferty Division in western Iraq’s al-Anbar province. The deployment is expected to last seven months. David McNew/Getty Images

departments 3 Vet Voice 10 Big Issues 66 Legion News 8 Commander’s Message Legalize medical marijuana 68 Comrades To those forever changed by war 60 Under the Radar 72 Parting Shots 62 Living Well

The American Legion Magazine, a leader among national general-interest publications, is published monthly by The American Legion for its 2.7 million members. These wartime veterans, working through 15,000 community-level posts, dedicate themselves to God and Country and traditional American values; strong national security; adequate and compassionate care for veterans, their widows and orphans; community service; and the wholesome development of our nation’s youth. November 2004 1 The American Legion Magazine

EXCLUSIVELY DESIGNED TO HONOR U.S. WAR VETERANS UNITED STATES MILITARY WAR VETERAN SERVICE RINGS Featuring Official Service Medals and Ribbons, The War Memorials and Gold Service Branch Emblems

700 N. Pennsylvania St. P.O. Box 1055 Indianapolis, IN 46206 NEW! (317) 630-1200 http://www.legion.org National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus Published by The American Legion EDITORIAL Editor John Raughter Managing Editor Jeff Stoffer Contributing Editor Steve Brooks Assistant Editor James V. Carroll Assistant Editor Matt Grills Assistant Editor Elissa Kaupisch Editorial Administrator Patricia Marschand General Administrator Brandy Ballenger General Administrator Robin Bowman GRAPHICS/PRODUCTION Graphics/Production Director Jon Reynolds Vietnam Iraqi Freedom Art Director Holly K. Soria Veteran Ring Veteran Ring Designer Douglas Rollison Designer King Doxsee ADVERTISING Advertising Director Diane Andretti Advertising Assistant Sara Palmer Advertising Assistant Leslie Hankins The American Legion Magazine P.O. Box 7068 Indianapolis, IN 46207 FOX ASSOCIATES, INC. Publisher’s Representatives Chicago: (312) 644-3888 New York: (212) 725-2106 Los Angeles: (213) 228-1250 Desert Storm Korean War WW2 Detroit: (248) 543-0068 Veteran Ring Veteran Ring Veteran Ring Atlanta: (404) 497-7690 THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE COMMISSION Dennis J. Henkemeyer, Chairman, Bagley, MN YOU HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT TO WEAR THESE SPECIAL RINGS Samuel Barney, Vice Chairman, Lancaster, OH; Charles E. Hartman, National Commander’s Representative, Eau e proudly present our Official in solid 10 KT gold atop genuine onyx. The ring Claire, PA; James J. Charleston, Consultant, Island Military War Rings to honor Veterans is sterling silver in 22 KT antiqued gold finish to Lake, IL; Robert A. Corrigan, Consultant, Bronx, NY. who served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, enrich the high-relief sculptures of the war Commission Members: Harold F. Arnold, Statesboro, W GA; J.O. Berthelot, Gonzalez, LA; Vincent E. Blank, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and now in Iraq - medals and memorials. The War ribbons are Vinton, IA; Donald R. Conn, South Bend, IN; James W. fighting the Global War On Terrorism. The top of hand-enameled in their official colors. Wear Conway, Charlestown, MA; Bettylou Evans, Laurel, DE; each ring features your Service Branch emblem your ring with pride in your service to Country. Philip B. Finley, Colby, KS; James Hall, Hopewell, NJ; Theodore Hartmann, Smithton, IL; Charles R. John, Duncan, OK; Bob Legan, Russellville, AR; J. Fred YOUR CHOICE OF SERVICE BRANCH EMBLEM SCULPTED ON TOP OF RING. Mitchell, Brewton, AL; Michael L. Montaney, Ephrata, COAST WA; Silas M. Noel, Frankfurt, KY; Everett G. Shepard III, ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE MARINES GUARD Woodstock, CT; George G. Sinopoli, Fresno, CA; Robert E. Vass Sr., Huntington, WV; Frank C. Ward, Greenville, SC. NEC Liaison Committee: William W. Kile, Chairman, Engraved with your Petersburg, WV; Alfred Pirolli, Philadelphia, PA; Arthur E. initials & years served Sell, Big Timber, MT; Marco A. Valenzuela, Tempe, AZ. FOR FASTEST SERVICE CALL TOLL FREE TO ORDER: 1-800-255-3048 Authorized by the Copyright 2004 by The American Legion Monday - Friday from 9am - 5pm EST Have Credit card and ring size ready when ordering. Korean War Veterans The American Legion (ISSN 0886-1234) is published Memorial Foundation. monthly by The American Legion, 5745 Lee Road, India- ORDER FORM napolis, IN 46216. Periodicals postage paid at Indianapolis, Or, Mail to: Veterans Commemoratives™ Military Rings, 1250 Easton Road, Suite 290, Horsham, PA 19044 IN 46204 and additional mailing offices. Annual non- ❑ member and gift subscriptions, $15 ($21, foreign); post- YES. I wish to order the following Exclusive SHIPPING ADDRESS sponsored and widows’ subscriptions, $6; single copy, (We CANNOT ship to P.O. Boxes) Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Service Ring: Check () choice: $3.50. Member annual subscription price $3.00, which ❑ Iraq ❑ Afghanistan (not shown) is included in annual member dues. POSTMASTER: Send ❑ Desert Storm ❑ Vietnam ❑ Korean ❑ WW2 Name ______address changes to The American Legion, Data Services, P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. Internet address:

❑  NEWCOH-ALM-1104 Service Branch: Check ( ) choice: http://www.legion.org. ❑ Army ❑ Navy ❑ Air Force Address ______❑ ❑ Change of Address: Notify The American Legion, Data Marine Coast Guard Services, P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. (317) City _____State _ Zip ______860-3111. Attach old address label, provide old and new ❑ Initials Desired (3): ______addresses and current membership card number. Signature ______❑ Service Yrs: ______to ______Canada Post International Publications Mall (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 546321. Re-entered I NEED SEND NO MONEY NOW. Bill me in four Phone # ______second-class mail matter at Manila Central Post office monthly installments of $48.75* each, with the first * Plus $9.95 for engraving, shipping, and handling. dated Dec. 22, 1991. payment due prior to shipment. A custom ring sizer will PA residents add 6% ($12.30) sales tax. be sent to me before shipment to assure my correct fit. © ICM 2002-2004 These rings have been registered with the Printed in USA And my satisfaction is completely guaranteed. United States Copyright Office, as sculpture. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations VISIT VETERANS COMMEMORATIVES™ ONLINE AT WWW.VETCOM.COM vet voice On their records Enough with records Newspapers and television I’m amazed at the amount of effort by both candidates to have been reporting on the woo the veteran vote. I can’t believe they think my vote will military records of President be based upon the four and a half months one spent in Bush and candidate John Kerry. These two men’s records should Vietnam or the Air National Guard not be an issue, since both men time of the other. My vote will be were honorably discharged. Let based on what they did when they the offi cial paperwork be the word. made their own decisions – Kerry People who try to demean in the Senate and Bush in the either man’s military service hurt White House. We need to pay attention to what they’ve done the veterans community and forget that wearing our country’s out of the military, not in it. uniform in any form is honor- – Pete Doe, York, Maine able. Do we look down on the Sudden respect available to all veterans. On Jan. veteran who was drafted com- Sen. John Kerry says, “If I saw 17, 2003, the Bush administration pared to a veteran who enlisted? somebody burning a fl ag, person- stopped enrolling (some) veterans Do combat veterans look down ally, I’d probably punch them out whose annual household incomes on veterans who serve their and stomp on them.” Does this are above $30,000. Why should country stateside? Do disabled man – this monstrously wealthy veterans, who risked our lives for veterans think veterans who effete product of Swiss boarding our country, be penalized for weren’t wounded served less schools, this friend of the most coming home and going to work? honorably? Does a career military vulgar people in Hollywood, this – Allan Young, Springfi eld, Mo. person think the person who did man who has spent his public life the minimum is less honorable? up to the past year sneering at the No such cut Every person who takes the oath fl ag and veterans – really expect John Kerry says President Bush to preserve and defend the U.S. us to believe this is how he feels? is cutting VA funds. This is a lie, Constitution, under any circum- I believe he thinks this ridiculous according to VA’s own Web page, stances, did it with pride and statement is something the which clearly shows that Bush has provided this defense by per- average veteran would say. He increased funding by $3.2 billion. forming whatever job the Depart- may have chuckled about it – per- Also, Kerry voted against concur- ment of Defense gave him. haps in French – with Teresa over rent receipt both times it came up, The issue is who will be the white wine and brie. Does he according to his voting record. best commander in chief of our expect us to believe the real John Now he says he is for it? military forces and who will give Kerry goes around physically – Daniel Gray, Defi ance, Ohio our veterans the best care and assaulting people who show benefi ts after they have served. disrespect to the fl ag? Bush’s free pass Some of the best veterans advo- Forget for a moment that the You ask Kerry about his 1971 cates have been non-veterans. grammar in the statement is antiwar testimony before Con- Consider these questions as you incorrect. Forget, too, that no one gress but fail to ask Bush why he vote for our next president, and would ever elect to the presidency attacked Iraq, has failed to don’t listen to all the negative a man who cannot control his capture Osama bin Laden, and input by both sides. emotions. The original cover of how he and his administration – Earl A. Rients, Pontiac, Ill. Kerry’s 1971 book, “The New feel about being labeled “chicken Soldier,” had people on the cover hawks” for avoiding the Vietnam Bush’s VA record holding the fl ag upside down as draft. Also, your interview tells us John Kerry says he’s been they mock the fl ag-raising at Iwo a number of Vietnam War veter- fi ghting for 35 years to “plus up” Jima. When and where did Kerry ans have “mixed feelings” about VA funding. What does “plus up” discover this newfound respect Kerry’s antiwar testimony, but mean? Does this translate to for the fl ag? you don’t mention any veterans “increase”? I’ll take President – William A. Roskey, Ames, Iowa having “mixed feelings” about Bush for another four years. Bush avoiding active duty Although he does mangle it Unfair penalty through family connections. This sometimes, he speaks English. In 1996, the Clinton administra- is pretty shoddy reporting. His record with the VA health- tion made VA medical services – L. Carolan, San Diego care system has been to increase

THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE WELCOMES YOUR OPINIONS Include your hometown and a daytime phone number for verifi cation. All letters are subject to editing. Send to: The American Legion Magazine, P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206 • [email protected]

November 2004 3 The American Legion Magazine vet voice the budget by more than twice Blind to backlog says he “never pointed to the the amount of increase during President Bush brags about the individual veterans.” Then who President Clinton’s entire tenure fabulous job Secretary of Veterans did he claim “raped,” “cut off in offi ce. He also seems to be Affairs Anthony Principi has done ears” and committed dozens of honest, which doesn’t appear to in reducing the backlog and other horrendous acts in Vietnam? be a trait Kerry espouses. waiting lists for veterans seeking He wasn’t “proud” of us then. – Robert D. Bradshaw, Bellevue, Neb. medical care. But in the same – Raymond Curiale, Glen Head, N.Y. issue, under Veterans Benefi ts, a Used again? headline states, “Veterans’ Who benefi ts? I understand our organization’s Claims, Appeals, Remands Still The candidates’ responses to commitment to bipartisanship, Stacking Up.” According to the the question on outsourcing are but having John Kerry in our article, 86,000 appeals were particularly telling. John Kerry magazine and addressing our pending in 2000. Since then we’ve gave a specifi c response on why convention is a slap in the face of seen a steady rise in the backlog he is against it. The president every Legionnaire who served in of new appeals, which today evidently believes outsourcing is Vietnam. It wasn’t too awfully stands at 130,000 and rising. Why good, for he skirted the issue and long ago that his words and wasn’t President Bush challenged made no real attempt to answer actions toward our country and on his statement? the question. It should come as no his fellow troops would have – Jack Hersh, San Carlos, Calif. surprise that at least one of the resulted in his being hanged or president’s economic advisers has summarily shot. Instead, here we Time for a change said outsourcing is good for the are, in 2004, honoring him with I don’t think President Bush economy. What needs answered an opportunity to yet again use us answered the questions in the is which companies and countries for his own self-interest. Shame September issue, while I think benefi t the most. on you. John Kerry answered all but one. – Wendell Liemohn, Louisville, Tenn. – Howard Pritz, Midlothian, Va. As both a veteran and 21-year Legion member, I will support Bush falls short Insult to veterans Kerry. I feel another four years President Bush says “increasing A swipe at Kerry is a blow to with President Bush would be immigration enforcement will not the face of every veteran. The ruinous for America. He is by itself solve our problems, audacity to smear any veteran’s keeping his budget secret until because our immigration laws are military service for the sole after the election, which tells me not working.” He doesn’t have any purpose of trying to gain political we’ll see more cuts in our social interest or inclination to enforce advantage is appalling. At a time and health-care programs. our current immigration laws, or when veterans are again publicly – Dan Bynum, Eldridge, Iowa see through any meaningful new appreciated and respected, it’s or improved immigration laws. disgusting to see how low one Kerry, Legionnaire Bush recently rejected a proposal will stoop. I was surprised to see that John from Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., – Jim Shannon, Canton, Ohio Kerry is a member of The Ameri- to hire more Border Patrol agents, can Legion, especially in light of instead approving millions in aid Focus on current war the statement he made in his book for Iraq – specifi cally, to seal that The current emphasis on who “The New Soldier”: “We will not country’s borders. did what during the Vietnam era readily join The American Legion Bush’s immigration position is is distracting our attention from and the Veterans of Foreign Wars – clear: he prefers to leave U.S. more important issues confront- in fact, we will fi nd it hard to join citizens vulnerable to terror ing us today. Both political parties anything at all, and when we do, attack, diseases, social costs, job seem to ignore the war we are we will demand relevancy such as displacement and a $10 billion bill currently waging. other organizations have recently annually infl icted by illegal It is critical we stabilize been unable to provide.” And I aliens. Hopefully he’ll be joining conditions in Iraq and remove thought Kerry is from Massachu- his father as a one-term president. our troops in an orderly fashion. setts. Why does he belong to a – Pete Testa, Millington, N.J. To correctly do this, we need a Legion post in New Hampshire? leader who is intelligent, coura- – Richard S. Churchill, Quincy, Mass. GOP not innocent geous and meticulous. We can’t As President Reagan liked to just drop everything and hastily Evasions and lies say, “There you go again.” In pull out, leading to anarchy and John Kerry says families have “Bush and Kerry Vie for the civil war, but neither should we conducted “bake sales” to buy Hearts of Veterans,” Larry Sabato continue to sacrifi ce our brave body armor to send to their kids writes that “veterans traditionally servicemen and women. We need in Iraq. If Kerry had not voted lean Republican mostly because to plan for the future, not wallow against appropriations for mili- of the GOP’s emphasis on military in the past. tary supplies, “bake sales” would spending and national security.” – Stan Silver, Wyckoff, N.J. not have been necessary. He also This is just another in an unend-

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Eustis Road ORDERS MUST BE RECEIVED Littleton NH 03561-3737 BY NOVEMBER 30, 2004 State ______Zip______–______www.littletoncoin.com/specials vet voice comments to a few major observa- Hastert seriously addresses the istration, over $1 billion a year – tions about the Democratic Party inequities of the military pay an increase of $4.8 billion since as a whole: system for either active duty or this president took offi ce. Still not n At the time, not one Senate retirees. It’s a sad state of affairs enough, but a vast improvement Democrat voted to impeach when both parties feel all they over Pelosi and her party’s eight President Clinton, the president have to do is spout vague rhetoric years in power. That’s one reason who “loathed the military,” lied to in an attempt to garner enough this veteran will vote to elect his draft board and to a professor military votes to put their candi- Republicans to Congress. of military science at the Univer- date over the top. – Harley Hildebrand, Lacey, Wash. sity of Arkansas about his military I offer four easy proposals to intentions, and protested on seriously and benefi cially impact Other choices foreign soil our participation in quality-of-life issues faced by our Your Veterans Pre-Election the Vietnam War. military members: Primer is exclusively devoted to n Almost exclusively through n Tie military retirement pay to what Democrats and Republicans the efforts of Democratic Senate the active-duty pay schedule. This have to say on the issues, as if we and House members has the amounts to a fair COLA adjust- are not already bombarded with amendment to protect our fl ag not ment and not the currently those messages daily in the already become law. ridiculous methodology resulting mainstream media. Of what help n Legislation to improve veter- in a quick evaporation of military is it to veterans to simply replay ans benefi ts that is supported by retirement pay as an effective them? If The American Legion is Democrats in the House and Senate pension program. serious about educating veterans, is often moot when one also n Inaugurate a real veterans devote an entire edition to inter- realizes those same lawmakers preference program. If you are a views with presidential candi- pursue and too often achieve qualifi ed veteran, you get the job, dates from political parties denied similar benefi ts in their myriad effectively ending the process of coverage by the media. I believe a social programs for people who putting veterans at the mercy of lot of veterans would be interest- have done nothing for the good of race- and gender-based affi rmative ed in hearing the views of the this country. Lately, these benefi - action goals. America First, Constitution, Green ciaries have been non-U.S. citizens. n Loosen disability qualifi ca- and Reform parties, among Citizens who believe the tions. Hastert’s boast of 40 others. As long as veterans and Democratic Party to be a friend of percent dual compensation is other Americans believe they only the military are only fooling laughable when juxtaposed have one choice – the Repub- themselves. against VA’s stringent and cost- licrats – this nation will continue – Charles P.B. Busbey, driven refusal to properly qualify to decay from within. Dripping Springs, Texas veterans who are in pain and – Donald H. Walker, Fowlerville, Mich. have served their country. More to the story n Delegate to commanding Great strides Speaker of the House Dennis offi cers the powers of an election I’m a sergeant fi rst class in the Hastert tries to persuade Legion offi cial and announce the military Minnesota National Guard, members to vote Republican vote command by command. Since stationed in Iraq, and a member of because he claims Republicans no president would want to claim American Legion Post 257 in supported concurrent receipt of the title “commander in chief” and Springfi eld, Minn. My wife sends military retired pay and VA have it known that his party lost me The American Legion Magazine dis ability pay. The real story is the military vote by 90 percent, in care packages. I like the ar- that Hastert held this legislation each candidate would immediately ticles, and had to write about hostage in committee because he begin to court the military vote August’s “From Factory to Fox- knew it would have been over- with a real benefi ts package. hole.” I totally agree that the whelmingly passed in a fl oor vote. – Matthew M. O’Connell, Topeka, Kan. military has made great strides in Not until Democrats shamed the the movement of equipment, Republicans into releasing the bill Vast improvement personnel and supplies. Gen. John with a discharge petition did the In September’s issue, Nancy W. Handy should be proud, and legislation pass. As for health Pelosi continues the negative I’m proud to be part of the greatest care, Hastert can obfuscate the campaign against the current fi ghting force on this earth. Just issue all he wants with mislead- administration. Where were she looking at the numbers in the ing statistics, but the fact remains and her party during the eight article is mind-boggling, especially that under President Bush, years of the Clinton administra- when they cover only a fi ve- to six- Category 8 veterans have been tion, when the defense budget was month period. I want to express denied health care. cut, when troops applied for food my thanks to TRANSCOM. – Gerald J. Ladouceur, Slingerlands, N.Y. stamps to feed their families and – J.D. Davidson, Springfi eld, Minn. when veterans were ignored? VA’s Sad state medical budget has increased Hospice angels Neither Nancy Pelosi nor Dennis every year under the Bush admin- I just fi nished reading Keith

6 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine EXCLUSIVE U.S. VETERAN MILITARY

Renninson’s article “Compassion at SERVICE WATCHES Death’s Door” (August), and I must FEATURING YOUR SERVICE MEDAL AND RIBBON ON THE WATCHBAND add my thoughts to his. My wife of 60 years, Ruby, suffered from extreme diffi culty in breathing. In February, our doctor advised that he could do nothing more to help her and that he would call a hospice. Within 20 minutes, a hospice representative came to speak with me. In the short time it took to get her discharged from the hospital and drive to our home, hospice had set up a hospital room in front of her favorite window so she could continue to watch her beloved birds and neighbors. Not enough kind words are in the English language to properly praise the people of hospice. I call them my angels, and though my sweetheart went to be with our VIETNAM KOREAN WW2 Lord on March 4, they still check VETERAN VETERAN VETERAN on me by phone and mail. God We proudly present our Official Veterans Military Watches to honor your service bless them. to our Country. These unique watches have exclusive, copyrighted features – Joseph A. Harrison, La Plata, Md. not found in any other watches, at any price: False hope? # Exclusive watchbands inset with replicas of U.S. # Water-resistant case and adjustable bracelet, Military Conflict Service Medals, minted like fine both decorated with 23-karat gold. The short article “Stem-Cell coins, and the Service Ribbons in official hand- # Case-back engraved with your initials, Research Not So Partisan” (Living enameled colors. 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SERVED: __ to __ POST #: __ was spent on embryonic stem-cell SHIPPING ADDRESS (WE CANNOT SHIP TO P.O. BOXES) I WISH TO PAY AS FOLLOWS: Name ______research and $15 million on adult K Enclosed is my check or money order for stem-cell research. Why would the $125* per watch payable to “Veterans Address ______organization direct research that Commemoratives” as payment in full, OR City __ State Zip ______way if embryonic stem cells hold K Charge my credit card $ 125* per watch as out great hope? payment in full, OR Daytime Phone # ( ___ ) ______– Edward W. Atkinson, ALLOW 4-6 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY. K Charge my credit card in two monthly * PLUS $7.95 PER WATCH FOR ENGRAVING, S& H. Princeton Junction, N.J. installments of $62.50* each. * PA RESIDENTS ADD 6% ($7.98) SALES TAX. ©ICM 2003. Service Medal and Ribbon watch bands and case designs have been registered by Veterans Commemoratives with the U.S. Copyright Office. VISIT VETERANS COMMEMORATIVES™ ONLINE AT WWW.VETCOM.COM commander’s message To those forever changed by war can talk about service, and I will. I can talk about how service drives membership, how American ILegion posts must publicly work their programs to show that veterans are the patriotic fi ber of our country. But such talk doesn’t mean much until you have taken a seat next to a bandaged young man whose skull was recently crushed in combat. He will never be the same. After meeting him and others like him, neither will I. He is one of nearly 10,000 U.S. troops, as of this writing, who have been medically evacuated from the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the war on terrorism. I met him in a restaurant in Washington, D.C., where every Friday night, wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are treated to a free dinner. The people you meet on those nights – or any time you should happen to visit Ward National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus visits a patient at Walter 57 at Walter Reed – will clarify your understanding of Reed Army Medical Center. Chester Simpson the war and of our duty, as Legionnaires, to support the new veterans coming home from it. I met a man who has spent nine years in the regular Army. All memoranda he ever wanted to be was an infantry soldier. Last summer, in GIFT MEMBERSHIPS ONLINE Iraq, he took a bullet in the back that rendered him, in his words, Gift memberships in The American Legion family “unable to perform 100 percent as an infantryman anymore.” He – the Legion, Sons of The American Legion or is resigned to the fact that he will have to retire from the Army American Legion Auxiliary – are easy to order he loves and restart life with a service-connected disability. online and make great gifts for the holidays. Visit I met a man from Ohio, an Army Reservist who lost a leg in www.legion.org for details. combat. He is learning to get along without it. His wife was with him. They expressed no regrets, only an understanding that he JOIN THE CADMUS CAVALRY was part of something greater. We talked about college football. American Legion and Legion family members are I met a general whose son recently lost an arm in combat. It now being mustered to join the Cadmus Cavalry. was hard to digest the complexity of that sacrifi ce, between A special Thomas P. Cadmus Cavalry commemo- offi cer and soldier, father and son. rative pin will be awarded to recruiters for every I met more than 50 such men and their families. I heard no fi ve new members they sign up for the 2005 self pity or despair. I listened intently to their stories and un- membership year. Certifi cation forms for the daunted enthusiasm. They showed courage at the onset of a program may be submitted at any time but must journey into the uncharted waters of a life irreversibly changed arrive at National Headquarters on or prior to by war. In time, they will transition from DoD to VA, from May 31, 2005. The national membership staff wounded soldiers to disabled veterans. That’s where we come in. will confi rm the new members, and pins will be Similar wounded U.S. troops occupied the minds and hearts mailed within three weeks. For more informa- of those war-weary soldiers who met in Paris in 1919 and tion, interested recruiters may contact Assistant decided that caring for disabled veterans and their families Director Bill Sloan at (317) 630-1321, or at his would be a fundamental duty of a new organization they email address [email protected]. would call The American Legion. It is also a timeless duty. Now is our time. IMPACT ’04 STRAW POLL RESULTS This month we celebrate Veterans Day across the country. The Legion’s Impact ’04 voter-education Wreaths are placed, speeches given, war stories swapped and campaign has been a big hit on both the national dinner tables set in honor of all who swore with their lives to and local levels. Legionnaires around the protect our blessings. I will undoubtedly be at such an event. country, like those at Post 575 in Lubbock, But my heart will be on Ward 57 with those who are coming Texas, hosted forums and events that drove home, and I will remind my fellow veterans why we fi ght for awareness of veterans issues. In Lubbock, VA health care, new career opportunities, well-funded educa- congressional candidates and VA Secretary tions, and for the benefi ts veterans and their families earned Anthony Principi were among those asked to and deserve. They are not alone. The American Legion exists address major veterans issues heading into this month’s general election. Look for results at to serve them. That’s what I mean when I talk about service. www.impact04.legion.org from the Impact ’04 online straw poll Nov. 1, between the top two presidential candidates. Most important, don’t forget to vote Nov. 2. Veterans and their families can make an impact.

8 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine NIGHT OF TERROR – NIGHT OF GRACE 1943. On board the Dorchester, 900 soldiers heading for war are torpedoed off frigid Greenland. With not enough life jackets for everyone, the four chaplains on board give their own life vests to the troops. Watch the inspiring, true story of a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, and two Protestant ministers, whose last moments passed praying, arm-in-arm, as the Dorchester went down. A TRUE STORY.

If you don’t have Hallmark Channel, call 1-866-4HALLMARK Visit www.hallmarkchannel.com for local channel number. big issues Legalize medicinal marijuana YES NO Ethan Nadelmann John P. Walters n Nadelmann is founder and n The federal drug czar under executive director of the Drug President Bush, Walters served Policy Alliance, which as deputy director for supply promotes alternatives to the reduction in the Offi ce of war on drugs. National Drug Control Policy. arijuana may be an unconventional medicine, n America today, well-fi nanced organizations Mbut it works. Montel Williams, decorated Iand individuals are exploiting the pain of sick former naval intelligence offi cer and talk-show people, and the compassion of those who care host, uses medical marijuana to help him control about them, to legalize marijuana. Advocating for the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. So does Keith the use of a smoked weed under the guise of Vines, an assistant district attorney, retired Air medicine is dishonest, scientifi cally irresponsible Force captain and former federal narcotics pros- and contradictory to the high standards of quality ecutor living with AIDS. effectiveness guaranteed by the U.S. Food and These men are just two of Drug Administration. hundreds of thousands of THE HEART OF THE ISSUE Our medical system relies on Americans who use marijuana proven scientifi c research to to treat pain from accidents or Several U.S. states have laws on the protect U.S. citizens from debilitating conditions such as books permitting some form of unsafe and ineffective prod- MS; to help restore appetite medical marijuana use, a violation of ucts. Research has not demon- during chemotherapy; to treat strated that smoked marijuana the symptoms of AIDS, glau- federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court is is helpful as medicine. The coma and epilepsy; and for a expected to rule on a lower court FDA has also stated that while host of other medical reasons. decision barring federal action against marijuana use has no proven The vast majority are law- benefi ts, it does have long-term abiding citizens who suffer medicinal marijuana use in California. risks associated with it. from chronic pain and illness. Furthermore, the British Lung They use marijuana as medicine because it works Foundation says that smoking three to four mari- better than anything else, with fewer negative side juana cigarettes a day is as harmful for your lungs effects. Many never smoked marijuana until they as smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes. became sick. Dozens of scientifi c studies demon- Some claim smoking marijuana helps ease symp- strate marijuana’s safety and therapeutic value. toms associated with certain illnesses. The fact More than two thirds of Americans say mari- that smoking a joint may make them feel better is juana should be legal for medical purposes – and not in dispute. But simply feeling better is not the that’s the law now in 10 states. standard of modern medicine. If it were, snake oils Only one big problem: the federal government. and miracle potions would still line our medicine The Clinton administration was callous, and the cabinets today. Bush administration has been downright cruel, The reality is that modern science has afforded arresting and prosecuting patients and providers. us safe alternatives to smoking a crude plant. The Federal drug enforcement agents, acting at the FDA-approved drug Marinol makes the component behest of the Justice Department, even raided a in marijuana known as THC available in pill form. hospice and handcuffed frail and elderly patients A product that delivers marijuana’s THC through who use marijuana as medicine. an inhaler is currently in development. The The crackdown represents a shameful abuse of difference between these medicines and smoking a power: punishing sick people for using the medi- joint: the user does not get high. cine that works best for them, threatening doctors Our veterans have sacrifi ced much to secure the who exercise responsible medical judgment, and blessings we enjoy today, including a safe and prohibiting state governments from acting in the reliable medical system grounded in research and interests of their own citizens. unparalleled in the world. We owe it to them to It’s time to tell the feds to get out of the doctor’s protect the integrity of that system and to prevent offi ces and medicine cabinets, and out of the way those seeking to legalize marijuana from riding on of citizens who simply want to do what’s right. the coattails of our compassion.

CONTACT YOUR LEADERS The Honorable (name), U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510 • Phone: (202) 224-3121 The Honorable (name), House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 • Phone: (202) 225-3121

10 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine

Missing Pieces

U.S. intelligence has, since World War I, been a jigsaw puzzle of imprecision and uncertainty, ever a work in progress. BY ALAN W. DOWD

n 1929, after learning about a Ever since, the high-stakes Telegram, which detailed German code-breaking intelligence nature of intelligence operations plans to use Mexico as a proxy for Ioperation jointly run by the and the self-critical nature of our war against the United States. Of Army and State Department, representative system of govern- course, it was British intelligence Secretary of State Henry Stimson ment have conspired to expose services that cracked the German promptly de-funded it and de- intelligence failures and to code, underscoring how inad- clared, “Gentlemen do not read impugn this “ungentlemanly” equate U.S. intelligence was. each other’s mail.” line of work. This has never been The Army soon created Military Actually, they do, and they more apparent than in the wake Intelligence Section 8, which always have – even the gentlemen of the Sept. 11 attacks and Iraq scored perhaps its most signifi cant who founded the United States. In war, as congressmen and com- successes after the war. MI-8 fact, in 1775, the Second Continen- missions seem more concerned broke the code Japanese negotia- tal Congress created the Commit- about fi xing blame than fi xing tors used to cable back and forth tee of Correspondence, which the intelligence problem. to Tokyo during the Washington funded propaganda, performed The good news is that U.S. Naval Conference in 1921 and covert operations, developed codes history offers a roadmap for how 1922, enabling U.S. diplomats to and – gasp – intercepted mail. to deal with intelligence failures. outmaneuver their counterparts. Even back then, the country’s spies The bad news: this isn’t the fi rst Before the decade was out, and military were not always on time intelligence problems have however, MI-8 would be out of the same page: on one occasion, led to serious political and mili- business, thanks to Stimson. The Gen. George Washington sent a tary problems. embittered head of MI-8 later task force to Bermuda with orders wrote a book airing the organiza- to seize gunpowder stored at the Blame Game. America’s entry into tion’s many secrets (sound Royal arsenal. But when Washing- both world wars is often blamed familiar?), and the Japanese ton’s ships arrived, the ammuni- on intelligence failures, but some changed their codes. tion was gone – it had already been of the blame is unfair. Intelligence The dismantling of MI-8 contrib- secretly acquired by agents of the services actually played a crucial uted to the country’s limited code- Continental Congress. role in uncovering the Zimmerman breaking capabilities at the onset

12 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Lapse of intelligence In its 521-page report on pre-war intelligence in Iraq, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence leveled heavy criticism on the Intelligence Community: n The committee blasted the IC for succumbing to “group-think” that led analysts to interpret “ambiguous evidence as conclusively indicative of a WMD program” and for painting an intelligence picture that overstated the Iraqi threat. n The committee found “signifi cant shortcomings in almost every aspect of the Intelligence Community’s human-intelligence collection efforts.” Because of these shortcomings, the IC relied too heavily on defectors and foreign governments. This created a cycle that fed on itself and led to what Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., called “a global intelligence failure.” Even so, the committee conceded that Iraq’s predisposition to deceive and unwillingness to come clean “could have led analysts to the reasonable conclusion” that Saddam still had his WMDs. Additionally, the committee concluded that IC assessments regarding Saddam’s missile arsenal, likely use of his own agents to conduct terror attacks, connections to certain terror groups and providing safe haven to al-Qaida, were all reasonable. of World War II. Even so, Ameri- Because of the imprecise nature a puzzle without knowing what it ca’s hamstrung intelligence assets of the warnings, U.S. offi cials in was supposed to look like. actually sounded the alarm over Hawaii were more concerned Japan in time to avert disaster. about protecting against uncon- From SOS to OSS. In what would In January 1941, almost a full ventional attacks, such as sabo- become a pattern, intelligence year before the attack on Pearl tage by Japanese expatriates, than reform followed intelligence Harbor, the Secretary of the Navy about bracing for a conventional failure. Just as the Zimmerman predicted that hostilities on the military attack. (Oddly, on Sept. Telegram led to MI-8, Dec. 7, 1941, part of Imperial Japan “would be 11, 2001, Washington seemed led to redoubled efforts at code- initiated by a surprise attack upon more concerned about conven- breaking – by mid-1942, the Navy the fl eet or the naval base at Pearl tional threats from without – a was intercepting some 60 percent Harbor.” Two weeks before the rogue missile attack, a surging of Tokyo’s naval communications attacks, the Navy Department China, a crumbling Russia – than – and to the creation of the Offi ce warned of “a surprise aggressive about unconventional attacks of Strategic Services. movement in any direction by the from within.) At the height of its power, the Japanese.” Similar warnings were Although the intelligence was OSS fi elded 13,000 intelligence issued Dec. 1 and Dec. 7. imprecise, it was still sounding agents. Working with their more One postwar inquiry concluded the alarm. Policymakers at Pearl seasoned British counterparts, OSS that offi cials in Washington and and in D.C. were not yet listening agents supported Allied operations Hawaii “were fully conscious of – or, perhaps better said, the right in North Africa, developed target the danger from air attack … and policymakers weren’t listening. lists for the bombing campaigns in they were adequately informed of This foreshadows Sept. 11. In the Europe and secretly brokered the the imminence of war.” Congress run-up to Pearl Harbor, as in run- surrender of Nazi forces in Italy. also found that the Navy and War up to 9/11, intelligence assets But the State Department and departments had “failed to give knew something was coming – military branches blocked the careful and thoughtful consider- they just didn’t know exactly upstart OSS from decoding Axis ation to the intercepted messages where or when. In both cases, communications, thus stunting its from Tokyo to Honolulu.” they were trying to piece together capabilities.

November 2004 13 The American Legion Magazine Repeating Stimson’s mistakes, But the pattern continued for President Truman shut down the the balance of the Cold War, with OSS after the war and unwittingly more perfect storms of poor continued the pattern. Yet two policymaking and incomplete years later, he signed the National intelligence, more complacency, Security Act and created the more ups, more downs. Central Intelligence Agency to In the wake of Vietnam, make sense of the vast amounts of policymakers tore into the intelligence landing on his desk. Intelligence Community with After the surprise invasion of gusto, this time using reform as South Korea, which led to the way to weaken rather than secondary surprise of China’s strengthen. The Church Commis- entry in the war, Truman formed sion, named after Idaho Sen. a special committee to examine Frank Church, led the way by the nation’s intelligence gaps. In airing some of the IC’s dirtiest What went wrong? the span of a year, he created the little secrets – plots to kill foreign National Security Agency by leaders, develop poisons, harass The underestimation that led to executive fi at in part because civil-rights leaders, use illegal Sept. 11 and overestimation that led to Iraq came after more America’s nascent Intelligence wiretaps and build secret data- than a decade of serious Community (IC) needed a central bases of U.S. citizens. intelligence problems. node for monitoring and decipher- The commission ultimately n After the Gulf War of 1990- ing information from the Cold made 100 recommendations, many 1991, the IC conceded it had War’s many fronts. aimed at limiting the IC’s ability to underestimated Iraq’s push for A decade later, in a bid to monitor threats, conduct domestic nuclear weapons by nine years. overthrow Fidel Castro, the CIA surveillance and target foreign n The IC failed to thwart a committed perhaps its greatest leaders. But if the commissioners’ number of major attacks in the blunder. After delivering some motives were good, the results 1990s, from the fi rst World 1,200 exiles to the Cuban coast, were not. “Over in the Soviet bloc, Trade Center attack to the the CIA hoped to spark a counter- we regarded it as a triumph,” said Khobar Towers and U.S. revolution with little risk or Ion Mihai Pacepa, former chief of embassy bombings. When linkage to Washington. The ill- Romania’s communist-era spy President Clinton retaliated conceived operation “had all the agency. He recalls how former with missile strikes on a disadvantages of involving Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaus- purported chemical-weapons America morally and politically,” escu popped open a bottle of plant in Sudan in 1998, the IC recalls historian Paul Johnson, champagne after hearing about came under criticism for shaky intelligence. “with none of the real advantages the Church report. The damage of U.S. air and naval participa- was even worse at home: after the n In the late 1990s, intelligence tion.” The CIA’s exiles were Church Commission, as Derek assets tracked bin Laden and had him in their sights on decimated. Leebaert writes in “The Fifty-Year several occasions, but Yet the IC soon redeemed itself, Wound,” “The CIA would rarely be disagreement among mainly because President Kennedy given the benefi t of the doubt by policymakers about whether to gave it a chance to do so. Rather increasingly skeptical Americans.” kill or capture him allowed him than retreating into a cocoon of Yet the CIA proved resilient. In to escape. commissions, he reminded the early 1980s, after the Soviet n Before 9/11, the FBI and CIA America and the world that Castro invasion of Afghanistan, CIA were barred from sharing and communism were the prob- Director William Casey – an OSS information about terror lem, not the CIA. And Kennedy veteran – told his deputies to “go suspects. Likewise, key remained doggedly committed to out and kill me 10,000 Russians agencies wrangled over the use containing communism through until they give up.” Working with of armed Predator drones in intelligence activities. In fact, the mujahadeen, the CIA did that Afghanistan. photoreconnaissance and signals and then some. Indeed, it pays to n On 9/11, just 1 percent of the intelligence intercepted by the recall that some of the greatest CIA’s 18,000 employees was NSA proved invaluable in uncover- intelligence success stories are tasked to counter-terrorism. ing a Kremlin plan to nuclearize never known to the general public. Cuba a year after the Bay of Pigs. Even so, the CIA was caught

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Blame Game II. Intel ligence will always be a mix of science and art, guesswork and facts, gut instinct and calculation. When humans interpret the motives and actions of other humans, we are bound to get it wrong sometimes, What went right? making stand-up policymaking Given the press accounts of the past 12 months, it would be easy to and statesmen-like politics crucial. conclude that the IC can do nothing right. In reality: After Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt focused on n IC memos throughout the late 1990s warned of bin Laden’s determination to attack America. A 1999 report predicted that winning the war rather than terrorists could “crash-land an aircraft … into the Pentagon … winning political points. He CIA or the White House.” created the OSS, poured resources n The CIA disrupted planned attacks in eight different countries in 1999. into code-breaking and prodded America’s embryonic IC to learn n In 2002, the CIA targeted and killed the Yemeni terrorists who from Britain. Truman’s example planned the USS Cole attack. In 2003, the CIA penetrated deep enough into Saddam’s inner circle to come within minutes of killing the dictator reminds us that mid-course after a mole inside his security detail informed the CIA of his corrections are sometimes neces- whereabouts. sary, even if it means giving critics n The ground war in Afghanistan was won largely by CIA agents and fodder for political attacks. And special forces, and as Tom McInerny and Paul Vallely observe in JFK is instructive for what he “Endgame,” “the integration of military special-operations forces and didn’t do, namely packing it in the clandestine services of the CIA was a marked success” in Iraq. and concluding that the Cold War n Libya’s decision to end its WMD program is a result of U.S. intelligence was no longer worth waging efforts. Also, it was the CIA that unearthed how Pakistani scientist A.Q. because of an intelligence mistake. Khan shared nuclear secrets with North Korea, Libya and Iran. Thankfully, it’s the policymak- ers in Congress and the White House – not intelligence analysts – who decide where to deploy the in building the case against much more complex than simply nation’s resources and how to Saddam Hussein – a man who had reading the enemy’s mail, espe- fi ght the nation’s enemies. Given the means and motives to attempt cially in an age of terror. In fact, that intelligence agencies underes- something worse than Sept. 11. it often yields more questions timated Saddam Hussein’s nuclear Of course, postwar intelligence than answers. program in 1991, it’s no surprise may prove as malleable as prewar Is it better for a president to act that they extrapolated the worst in intelligence: offi cials at the U.S. on imprecise intelligence and risk 2003. And if, as some observers National Geospatial Intelligence ridicule, or should he wait until have suggested, Saddam was Agency have surmised that Iraq’s the intelligence is undeniable and pretending to have weapons of WMDs may have been trucked to risk a U.S. city? Is it fair to expect mass destruction as an internal Syria. Last spring, sarin and the IC to think like the enemy? deterrent, then it seems unfair for mustard shells began springing up And can we fi x the IC without policymakers to blame the IC for among conventional caches. And fi rst breaking this pattern – a reporting what its sources inside nine of Saddam’s foremost WMD pattern that begins with our own Iraq were saying. At the very scientists have been killed in complacency, leads to poor policy least, it’s disingenuous after a postwar Iraq. All had been execution and usually ends in decade of budget cuts. interviewed by the coalition’s embarrassment, if not disaster? x Moreover, after being criticized WMD fact-fi nding group, as The for not moving aggressively Weekly Standard has reported. Alan W. Dowd is a senior fellow at enough against Osama bin Laden, Sagamore Institute for Policy for not putting all the puzzle Questions. The search for these Research. pieces together, it seems unfair to weapons of mass confusion blame the IC for being aggressive reminds us that intelligence is Article design: Holly K. Soria

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Lt. Gen. Mark Curran explains how the Army’s vision is shifting as a new century unfolds.

or the U.S. Army, this is a time of particular challenge. While Ffully engaged in combat, peacekeeping and other operations in more than 120 countries, the Army is conducting its most comprehensive transformation in 50 years. Army leaders are re-examining and challenging organizational structures and institutions. They’re picking the best of current capabilities and attributes while developing others that increase the Army’s ability to respond to any and all threats. The end result of this transformation will be a more relevant and ready force – a campaign-quality army with joint and expeditionary capabilities. To manage the transformation, Army Chief of Staff Peter Lt. Gen. Mark Curran, Schoomaker turned to the Training and Doctrine Command. director, Futures Center, U.S. Army. Charged with building the best force for the nation, TRADOC James V. Carroll and its Futures Center integrates all transformation efforts, including those that focus on the Army’s role in the joint force. Lt. Gen. Mark Curran, the Futures Center’s fi rst director, spoke with The American Legion Magazine in his offi ce at historic Fort Monroe in Hampton Roads, Va.

18 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine q&a

The American Legion Magazine: Q: What lessons have the Army hensive transformation of its forces How have the Afghanistan and Iraq learned from those confl icts? since the early years of World War wars changed the Army’s mission? A: As a learning organization, the II. Not only is it good for the Army, Lt. Gen. Mark Curran: Our Army Army is examining Operation it’s also essential for the entire joint exists to fi ght and win our na- Enduring Freedom and Operation force and the nation. tion’s wars, so in one sense our Iraqi Freedom for insights to be Obviously we have to be able to mission hasn’t changed. The applied to the current force and respond to the new threats we global war on terrorism, though, implications for the future force. face today, but transformation is has changed the kind of war we We recently released a book, “On more than that. We’re building must fi ght. We’re adapting and Point,” which tells the story of the the Army’s future force. It’s a preparing to meet our strategic Army’s role in OIF in the context campaign-quality land force with commitments now and well into of the joint fi ght. The book joint and expeditionary capabili- the future. We do not have the provides insights on how the ties. Transformation will create a luxury to wait. So we’re changing Army trains, equips and fi ghts in campaign-capable Army this while still fi ghting – and that’s major combat operations. The decade. It will require the deep defi nitely not business as usual. Army has already taken action on and personal commitment of Remember, the environment dur- some of the emerging implica- every member of the Army team – ing the Cold War was almost tions. Many lessons have been every leader, soldier, civilian, predictable. We had a defi nable learned at the tactical level where family member and, yes, the enemy: the Soviet Union. Our main the sergeants, lieutenants and support of our veterans. job was deterrence. We built a very captains live, work and fi ght. And Gen. Schoomaker, the chief of robust and heavy force to deal here at TRADOC we’re transform- staff of the Army, has given us a with that threat. Once the Berlin ing the Army education system to tough mission, insisting we Wall came down and the Soviet quickly integrate those lessons at employ a transformation methodol- Union collapsed, our focus shifted. every level. ogy that fi rst and foremost enables We became an army with the Recently a company commander soldiers today. It has to increase ability to deploy anywhere in the in the 101st Airborne Division (Air the speed at which we compile, world, conducting various peace- Assault) talked about some assess and incorporate the hard making or peacekeeping missions. lessons learned when his com- lessons learned by soldiers and Yet during that time the pany survived an leaders. Finally, it must integrate Army was reduced in “Transformation enemy attack that left change in a manner that enhances size by 38 percent. will create a his platoon sergeant combat effectiveness and readiness After the Cold War it campaign-capable seriously wounded. and safeguards our soldiers’ became clear, and Sept. Army this decade.” They counter-attacked advantage in the future. 11 confi rmed, that we the enemy, killing one Gen. Schoomaker has several were in an increasingly unstable and detaining two. He attributed focus areas he wants us to con- world. We now deal with terror- his unit’s success to rehearsals, centrate on in our transformation ists, regional instability and after-action reviews and aggres- efforts. They run the gamut from weapons of mass destruction, all sive leadership at every level. basic soldier issues – improved the while keeping a wary eye on lethality, survivability, communi- some strategic threats that have Q: What does transformation cations, etc. – through compli- not disappeared with our Cold mean, and is it good for the Army? cated global networking and joint War enemies. Our deployments A: Transformation is what we call logistics issues. We also have have been largely unpredictable, the process that shapes the chang- focus areas that are looking at and they go on for longer periods. ing nature of the Army. We’re ways to stabilize the force to We’ve seen an increased need for doing this through new combina- improve unit readiness and the smaller, more agile units – not of tions of concepts, capabilities, lifestyle of our soldiers and their divisional size, but a brigade size people and organizations. The families. We’re looking at several with more capabilities. Army is pursuing the most compre- key areas in the Army Education

November 2004 19 The American Legion Magazine System that will impact both 3rd Infantry Division, the force global war on terrorism. As an leaders and soldiers, not the least that fought so brilliantly in “Army of One,” all components of which is to instill the warrior Operation Iraqi Freedom and is are integrally involved in the ethos for all soldiers, regardless of preparing to go back to Iraq again. current campaigns in Iraq and their specialty or position. If Soon the 10th Mountain and 101st Afghanistan and are also involved nothing else, this war has shown Airborne (Air Assault) Divisions totally with the redesign planning us there is no frontline or rear will also move to the new designs. and decision-making processes area; everyone in the theater must At the same time we will regarding this rebalancing effort. be prepared mentally and physi- reorganize and standardize the cally for close combat. National Guard brigade combat Q: The Army has done some Work prioritizing and identify- teams and standardize unit design amazing things since deploying to ing the resources to realize the in our Reserve component. We Afghanistan and Iraq following the potential from the focus areas has have to be able to easily integrate Sept. 11 attacks. What is the come together as the Army our Reserve component and our Army’s biggest achievement during Campaign Plan – the units have to be inter- that time? Army’s blueprint for the “We have to be changeable. And we A: I guess you’d have to say future. It lays out the more agile, with have to change the way securing the homeland and intent, vision, lines of the ability to we do personnel re- fi ghting two wars in Iraq and operation, objectives and deploy quickly.” placements so that we Afghanistan while simultaneously decision points that will keep units together conducting the biggest transforma- enable us to do this over the next longer. This reduces the amount tion in the Army’s history. And six years. Our business at the of redundant training we do. It we’ve done all this because of the Futures Center is to act as the hub helps us get better by creating the accomplishments of our soldiers as of Army innovation and to work conditions for units to become they answered the nation’s call. with industry to speed the devel- much more cohesive and train They have deployed, fought, bled opment of new technologies and more aggressively – not necessar- and many have died. They’re capabilities. We also develop ily longer, but certainly smarter. staying on to help build democratic warfi ghting concepts and conduct institutions in both Afghanistan experimentation, often with our Q: Is your plan to continue to use and Iraq and in other locales joint partners: the Navy, Air Force, the Guard and Reserve as part of around the world. TIME made the Marines and Coast Guard. the rotation of Army units in Iraq soldier its Person of the Year. Your and Afghanistan? Army is performing magnifi cently. Q: Can you describe some of the A: The short answer is yes. There Our soldiers are world-class; they changes that are occurring? is no way I can overstate the fi ght valiantly and demonstrate a A: We have to be more agile, with magnifi cent contribution of the true warrior spirit. But they also the ability to deploy quickly. Gen. members of the Army’s reserve have in their hearts a very compas- Schoomaker’s intent is to create a components in this time of war. sionate spirit, and we see that dem- modular, brigade-based Army that From securing the homeland to onstrated all around the world on is more responsive to regional engaging in close-action combat, playgrounds in Iraq, in hospitals combatant commanders’ needs. they have been superb. There has and orphanages in Afghanistan, Modular does not mean smaller. It been a very high demand for and in small villages in Africa. means units that quickly deploy certain kinds of units – military lethal, self-contained, tailored police and civil affairs, for in- Q: The Army has also had some packages that can fi ght upon stance – and as a result we need signifi cant challenges. What do arrival. We’re creating units that to look hard at the mix of military you consider the toughest? are designed and trained to fi t into specialties we have in both the A: We do face some tough chal- any combination of joint forces. active and reserve components. lenges. We are deployed in about For example, an Army combat We are internally rebalancing 120 countries around the world. brigade working comfortably in a both the active and Reserve Our operational tempo is as high Marine-led operation. In a little component forces. as it’s ever been. Old rules no over two years we’ll add 10 At the end of the day, the longer apply. The global war on brigade combat teams. We may Reserve components will continue terrorism requires us to challenge add a total of 15 by fi scal year to provide combat, combat old paradigms, to be fl exible and 2007. We’ve already begun support and combat-service adaptable to face a cunning and implementing these changes in the support formations to support the devious enemy. As we win this

20 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine    ฀฀฀ ฀฀฀ ฀฀฀฀ ฀฀฀ ฀฀฀ ฀฀฀

฀฀฀ ฀฀ MILITARY TECHNOLOGY with their sense of duty. sense their with keeping todoin thing right the it’s doitbecause paper. Butthey the in nopicture and no medal norecognition, gets doing they’re of Much soldier. what the do is we everything and mission every of heart atthe that but we know systems, weapons advanced and technology about alotof talk hear You moreoften. and more clearly soldiers great its and Army our of story success the totell need we challenges: biggest one of our is here follows. And that peace the in prevail war, also we must The American Legion Magazine night pharmacy. night all- nearest tothe of Boston streets the through drivers H2 civilian itguides territory, hostile through Humvees military guides notonly GPS trails. mountain onremote hikers orinjured es avalanch- under buried skiers tolocate more likely are personnel emergency ofhelp GPS, civilian fi prevent friendly- helps that technology synergistic a is System Positioning Global The storms. severe and tornadoes hurricanes, as such ic systems atmospher- dangerous totrack forecasters weather fi battle- tactical and strategic crafting in generals for tools invaluable are satellites spy Military fi battle- between frame time the narrow ogy, they technol- dual-purpose accelerate notonly Pentagon the and Street Wall between Partnerships opment. devel- and research civilian and military between battlefi moresophisticated and faster smarter, smaller, of Baghdad. streets onthe versions their unpack U.S. can troops than orsooner soon as of America Mall shelves atthe tofi likely now as is Street waynd its toretail toMain Pentagon the from down totrickle years Military-inspired breakthroughs civilian enhance quality of life. Pentagon Street to Main eld plans. The same technology enables civilian civilian enables technology same The plans. eld eld and shopping center. shopping and eld re accidents in the world’s hotspots. And with the the world’s with the in And hotspots. re accidents Remote satellite sensing is a prime example. example. aprime is sensing satellite Remote The military’s rapidly expanding appetite for appetite expanding rapidly military’s The took once that technology military Top-secret eld tools is tearing down traditional walls walls traditional down tearing is tools eld 22 November 2004 November your patriotism and understanding refl families their and soldiers our tosupporting commitment Your organization’s years. many for so doing youwhat have been way. the doing keep all Just them behind you stand that and doing is he orshe what you appreciate that airport the in youTell see asoldier people. American of the front in story Army’s the Army. keep Help our in changes positive of these all A: bers, Army the move help forward? Legion with its2.7 mem- million Q: Spread the word to others about about word toothers the Spread How can we, The American How American canwe, The throughs for the military and the marketplace alike. marketplace the and military for the throughs break- technological pushes that expediency by driven relationship It’s asymbiotic future. foreseeable for model the the toremain likely are Pentagon the and industry private between development and research spin-offs, partnerships capabilities. in ahead generations be may PDAs civilian 2007.D-DACT before time, that By its toreplace not plan does military butthe cousin, civilian current its than sophistication greater far PDA, orD-DACT, possesses military current The Take Personal Digital Assistants as an example. technology. market-driven upwith keeping trouble have sometimes Butthey counterparts. civilian of their renditions moreadvanced and beefed-up mothballed. were 16the Concorde French-British crafts passenger of last the and ground, the never gotoff project SST Boeing’s for consumers. expensive too cost its supersonic fl tumors. todetect method abreakthrough as ise prom- now holds submarines todetect used radar hybrid Navy public. bythe now used military common examples of technologies launched the in other are networks communications wireless Regardless of the effi of the Regardless bulkier, initially often are devices Military as such technology, military-inspired Other fi range devices, Night-vision ects ects ight, awaits mainstream acceptance, acceptance, mainstream awaits ight, Article design: King Doxsee design: Article consultant. a TRADOC retired colonel of fi MarkInterview: Brzozowski a is security here athome. here security the fi tocarry continue we will backing, your With U.S. the and Congress. people American of the support Team. Joint Wethe the need of part butas alone, move forward while fi while signifi … making today mission tough Army’s of the cacy of military-to-civilian ght to our enemies to provide toprovide enemies toour ght ghting awar. We donot ghting nders and portable portable and nders – James V. Carroll cant changes changes cant eld artillery and and artillery eld x

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24 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine on a street near where he was better care of us than we could in life. I did it moderately well guarding a station. He pushed her ever do for ourselves. In a word, with my son, pretty well with my aside and threw himself on it just we make ourselves sane when we wife and well indeed with my as it exploded. He left a family fi re ourselves as the directors of parents (with my sister’s help). I desolate in California and a little the movie of our lives and turn cared for and paid attention to girl alive in Baghdad. the power over to Him. I came to them in their declining years. I The stars who deserve media realize that life lived to help stayed with my father as he got attention are not the ones who have others is the only one that mat- sick, went into extremis and then lavish weddings on TV but the ters. This is my highest and best into a coma and then entered ones who patrol the streets of use as a human. immortality with my sister and Mosul even after two of their I can put it another way. Years me reading him the Psalms. buddies were murdered and their ago, I realized I could never be as This was the only point at bodies battered and stripped for the great an actor as Olivier or as which my life touched the lives of sin of trying to protect Iraqis from good a comic as Steve Martin – or the soldiers in Iraq or the fi refi ght- terrorists. We put couples with Martin Mull, or Fred Willard – or ers in New York. I came to realize incomes of $100 million a year on as good an economist as Samuel- that life lived to help others is the the covers of our magazines. The son or Friedman or as good a only one that matters and that it is noncoms and offi cers who barely writer as Fitzgerald. Or even my duty, in return for the lavish scrape by on military pay but stand remotely close to any of them. But life God has devolved upon me, to on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq I could be a devoted father to my help others He has placed in my and on ships and in submarines son, husband to my wife and, path. This is my highest and best and near the Arctic Circle are above all, a good son to the use as a human. x anonymous as they live and die. parents who had done so much for I am no longer comfortable me. This came to be my main task Article design: Doug Rollison being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton’s is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American fi rmament: the police- men and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; and the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fi reman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero. We are not responsible for the operation of the universe, and what happens to us is not terribly important. God is real, not a fi ction, and when we turn over Army Staff Sgt. Chris Golde befriends a Kurdish child during a dismounted patrol our lives to Him, He takes far within a displaced Kurdish camp in northwest Kirkuk. DoD

November 2004 25 The American Legion Magazine Back from

BaghdadWar correspondent Karl Zinsmeister defends Saddam’s removal.

26 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine q&a

arl Zinsmeister is more than history are fi rsthand accounts. As and it shows. I saw few adjust- editor-in-chief of The an embedded reporter with the ments made by the military to KAmerican Enterprise, a 82nd Airborne in 2003, Zinsmeis- accommodate this invasion of national magazine of politics, ter lived the lightning invasion reporters. They allowed us to see business and culture that gets its that swept aside Saddam’s murder them as they were. name from its parent think tank, machine in three weeks. He then As to the press, I saw a lot of the Washington-based American did what few reporters had the people who wasted their entire Enterprise Institute. He is a throw- stomach or integrity to do: re- embedding experience. I moved back to the early days of journal- embedded during America’s from unit to unit and got in with ism, when news was the focus – simultaneous counterinsurgency the infantry. I didn’t expect to be rather than the newsman – when and nation-building operations in babysat; I wasn’t looking for an reporters worried more about the 2004. When The American Legion escort. Others were. Some say the story than their image, when war Magazine interviewed Zinsmeis- media was hypnotized by the correspondents understood that ter, he was preparing for yet access and led around by the telling the whole story meant another tour inside Iraq. nose. Nonsense. The military reporting good news as well as bad. didn’t even know where I was and The Syracuse, N.Y., native has The American Legion Magazine: didn’t have any control over what reported plenty of both in a pair of How has the embedding experi- I was seeing or doing – or what I pivotal books on the Iraq war and ment changed the U.S. military was going to write. And those postwar Iraq: “Boots on the and the press? ground rules applied Ground” and “Dawn over Bagh- Karl Zinsmeister: to every embed. dad.” Together, the books chronicle I really don’t think the rapid overthrow of Saddam it changed the Q: You write about Hussein’s regime and arduous military much. the hardships caused reconstruction effort now under The military was by the WMD threat. way. They have earned acclaim already way ahead In light of the Senate from such diverse sources as the of the rest of the Intelligence Commit- Military Book Club, The Financial country in terms of tee’s report on Times and National Review. PBS its willingness to shoddy prewar WMD has invited Zinsmeister to translate let us stare over its intelligence, what the books into a documentary fi lm. collective shoulder. are your thoughts on The books serve as something I observe and Iraq’s chemical and of a bridge between Iraq and the report on all kinds biological weapons American people – and a stiff of people and programs? dose of fact for Zinsmeister’s organizations – Zinsmeister’s work includes the A: In my view, it cynical Beltway peers. That’s cities, government good and the bad news from really isn’t that because these initial drafts of agencies, corpora- Iraq. Courtesy Karl Zinsmeister relevant whether or tions – and none not Saddam had Fighting rages around U.S. soldiers of the places I’ve studied has been active WMD programs immedi- outside a Baghdad building where they as open as the military. The ately before the invasion took found a stash of rocket-propelled military has nothing to hide. They place. We had to assume he had grenades. Courtesy Karl Zinsmeister are confi dent about themselves, them or could quickly reconstitute

November 2004 27 The American Legion Magazine them. This is a man who used Karl Zinsmeister So people ask, “Why do we hear WMDs on 42 different occasions, about blackouts?” Because the 1959 Born in Syracuse, N.Y. and he had the motivation and Iraqi economy is blooming and personality to use them again. As 1981 Graduated from demanding more energy. Iraqis are Yale University long as he was in power, WMDs buying washing machines and TVs could pop up again on very short 1981 Legislative assistant to and satellite receivers. And all of notice in his inventory or in the Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan these devices are absorbing hands of someone he might 1985 Syndicated radio host, electricity. Demand is going up choose to give them to. The “Trend Watch” faster than supply. Plus, in the scientists were still there, the labs 1986 Research director, The Saddam era, 57 percent of electric- were still there, the knowledge Working Seminar on Family ity went to Baghdad. Now electric- was still there, the factories that and American Welfare Policy ity is being distributed on a per- made the WMD shells were still 1988 Appointed by Education capita basis, so Baghdad gets 28 there, and the markets were still Secretary William Bennett to percent. That means privileged there. In the post-9/11 environ- the board of advisers of the neighborhoods in Baghdad are ment, it no longer makes sense to National Fund for the getting less juice than they’re used Improvement and Reform of risk that. It only makes sense to to, and they are upset, but most of Schools and Teaching err on the side of safety. Saddam the country is getting more Hussein was a human WMD, and 1994 Named editor in chief, electrical power than ever before. The American Enterprise removing him was the only All of this progress comes prudent course of action. 2000 Syndicated columnist, courtesy of the U.S. military, which United Media Syndicate is doing two things: fi ghting a Q: In “Boots on the Ground,” you 2003 Embedded reporter, Operation tough guerrilla war while simulta- detail the connection U.S. troops Iraqi Freedom; published neously reconstructing a country. make between Sept. 11, Iraq and “Boots on the Ground” It’s important to understand that the wider war on terror. How did 2004 Embedded reporter, central historically this has never been Baathist Iraq fi t into the web of Iraq; published “Dawn Over done. And it’s important to under- terror? And why was it important Baghdad” stand that the only people really to face this threat? helping the Iraqis are our troops A: Most of the soldiers I was with ability to hurt its neighbors and and coalition partners. The U.N. is would say that the real monster America than others in the region. virtually AWOL because they say behind 9/11 was actually not C. It had a history of attacking its it’s a dangerous place. But Liberia Osama bin Laden. The deeper neighbors and U.S. interests. And, is a dangerous place. Rwanda is a problem, the real root of the D. Iraq has a better upside. dangerous place. Yet the U.N. is in problem, is the incredibly incom- Iraq is not like Afghanistan or those places. Politics is keeping the petent and cruel governments that Saudi Arabia. Those places are U.N. out of Iraq. prevail throughout the Middle medieval, pre-modern cultures. East and produce only one thing Iraq has a history, pre-Saddam, of Q: You visited the now-infamous in bumper-crop quantities: learning and an openness to Abu Ghraib prison while writing homicidally frustrated young modernity. I have met Iraqi “Dawn Over Baghdad.” How have men. There are 22 Arab nations engineers and physicians and the troops on the ground reacted to and zero democracies. Iraq will be literature professors who are the prisoner-mistreatment scandal? the fi rst. Until we fi x this democ- anxious to grab the reigns of a Could you discuss the fallout inside racy defi cit, we’re not going to be different society and make it a Iraq and within U.S. journalism? able win the war on terror. We pioneering country for the region. A: Abu Ghraib was a disaster. I can’t do it with police on our was heartbroken when I heard borders or metal detectors at Q: How has Iraq changed between about it because I knew this was airports. To choke off that supply your tours? going to become the brush that of angry young men, we have to A: The Iraqi economy is going to tarred all of our soldiers. Our overturn these dreadful govern- grow by 60 percent by the end of troops are the fi rst ones who want ments in the Middle East. 2004. Something on the order of a these morons punished and put in Iraq was the right place to start million cars have been imported. jail. However, it was so grossly because: A. There was no tyrant Cell-phone ownership is over a overblown, from a media stand- crueler in that region than Saddam million. The amount of electricity point, that it could become a Hussein. B. Iraq had a greater is higher than before the war. textbook case of how to take a

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Edward Howard’s original record books preserved at the Promotional Code EHW-0169 Smithsonian Institution inspired our own horologists. Please mention this when you call. INNOVATIVE Call Toll-free 888-229-7369 HOME PRODUCTS www.InnovativeHomeProducts.com true but unrepresentative incident and turn it into a false paradigm. A quarter-million Americans have rotated through Iraq since the invasion. Take any city that size and there are going to be a sub- stantial number of knuckleheads. The percentage of people like those who committed the crimes at Abu Ghraib is remarkably small, and the lack of perspective is frustrat- ing. After all, there have been scores of Iraqi detainees killed, but not by Americans – by terrorists. A couple times a week, terrorists lob mortars into Abu Ghraib and kill their fellow Iraqis. An attack in Iraqi children enthusiastically greet U.S. soldiers visiting their farm. An older April killed 22 detainees and relative may have felt differently; the road in front of their home is pocked by injured 91 others. But it gets no three bomb craters. Courtesy Karl Zinsmeister reporting. Instead we hear that detainees were humiliated and thrilled to have Saddam gone. In bearing the burden.” Is it too much scared and had dogs barking at those areas it would have been of a burden? them. All of that’s out of bounds – inappropriate to be more aggres- A: We’re asking a lot of these but it wasn’t killing or maiming. sive – in fact, one of the reasons young men, but it’s not for me to Yet the people who represent public opinion has stuck with us decide if this is too great a burden. humanitarian concerns are only through the travails is because 75 It’s for them to decide, and they appalled by what the Americans percent of Iraqis recognize that have decided. Re-enlistment rates did. They don’t say anything about Americans are not arbitrary or are exceeding the targets, and the insurgency. They don’t even indiscriminate in using force. In that’s the best refutation of the acknowledge that it is happening. the other quarter of the country, I claim that the troops are unhappy That’s not an excuse for what our think the guerrilla war would or upset. Morale amongst our guards did. They will go to jail for have happened regardless. There troops in Iraq surprises me every it. But there’s a deeper, much are some parts of Iraq that will time I go over there. Sure, they grosser atrocity taking place, and not be peaceful until a few miss their families and are tired of if you want to be an atrocity thousand people are killed or the heat and of seeing the ugly side hunter, then why not pinpoint the locked up. of human nature. But they have real atrocity? Troops often chafe under rules of never given the impression that Abu Ghraib was a bigger story engagement. But I’ve heard they feel taken advantage of, that inside the Beltway than inside relatively few complaints. Quite this is a waste of their time, that Baghdad. Iraqis have seen atroci- often, it wasn’t rules of engage- this is an unworthy cause. ties, and they understand the ment that constrained them, but Most of them tell me that they difference between what those the inherent decency of our troops feel this is the most important U.S. guards did and real atrocities. that caused them to fi ght the way thing they will ever do. They know they did. I was staggered by their this is a historical turning point for Q: You describe Operation Iraqi restraint. They wouldn’t return fi re our nation. The main worry I hear Freedom as the “gentlest war in because there were women around from the troops is that our country history” and detail the great care or a mosque nearby. And in many will back off before the job is done. U.S. forces took to protect innocents. cases the rules of engagement They know that as long as we In light of what has happened in would have allowed them to fi re. don’t lose our nerve here at home, places like Fallujah, was the war too They fi ght as Americans, as citizen we are going to have a successful gentle? Were the rules of engage- soldiers who have good hearts. result in Iraq. x ment too careful, too constraining? A: Iraq’s a big country with a lot Q: You conclude that rebuilding Interview: Alan W. Dowd of different kinds of people. About Iraq and defending civilization is three-quarters of the country is an “almighty strain on the soldiers Article design: Doug Rollison

30 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine They dedicated their best years to keeping America strong... Decades later many would get sick from the Asbestos

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BY STEVE BROOKS ince last September, Ameri- can Legion National Com- Smander John Brieden has visited all 50 states. He traveled to locations as diverse as the Philip- pines, Germany and South Korea. He met with national and interna- tional dignitaries and with the president of the United States. But at the Legion’s 86th Nation- al Convention in Nashville, Tenn., Brieden told Legionnaires not one of those visits was more meaning- ful than the time he spent with servicemembers who returned home wounded from war. “During my travels, my visits with our troops have been spe- cial,” Brieden told a packed Delta Ballroom in the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. “The most defi ning mo- ments for me have been visiting those soldiers coming back wounded. These young people are absolutely amazing. I’m so impressed with the way they handle themselves.” Brieden’s comments highlighted a conven- tion that included speeches by President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Commander John Brieden addresses the Kerry, appearances by VA Secre- 86th National Convention. Tom Strattman tary Anthony J. Principi and

November 2004 33 The American Legion Magazine Homeland Security Secre- care of them. tary Tom Ridge, along with “Our biggest job today is the election of new Nation- support for our troops. We’ve al Commander Thomas P. worked for increased benefi ts Cadmus of Michigan. More for members of the National than 10,000 Legionnaires Guard and the Reserves to attended the convention make sure we take care of from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. them and their families. And Dozens of issues were we need to make absolutely addressed during the sure the GI Bill of Rights convention, but the under- includes National Guards- lying theme was troop men and Reserves. We need support. Brieden spoke of to make sure those returning injured servicemembers have a VA to return to. We who desperately want to need to make sure we have a return to their units and VA properly funded. That’s their comrades. He told the why we’re for mandatory story of a soldier recover- funding.” ing at Walter Reed Army Brieden said the Legion Medical Center in Wash- will continue the fi ght to end ington. The man was the disabled veterans tax, heading into surgery to which offsets pensions of have an infected leg disabled military retirees amputated and had no fam- with their disability com- ily by his side. When pensation. Last fall, Con- Brieden asked why, the gress approved legislation man replied that he had Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Briscoe of Ames, Texas, is honored phasing in concurrent sent his family back home during the convention. Briscoe, of the 5th Special receipt for just a few veter- to Fort Stewart, Ga. Forces, lost his right arm to a rocket-propelled grenade ans over the next 10 years, “He had family all alone attack in Iraq. Tom Strattman leaving thousands of others back at Fort Stewart,” Georgia Adjutant) Charlie Knox shortchanged. Brieden said. “I said that we called me and said, ‘Last night “We’ve been working for a long needed to get someone there. The we had people over at their time on concurrent receipt, or the next morning, (Department of house.’ He told me they’d take disabled veterans tax,” Brieden

The following are summaries of more than 200 resolutions passed at the 86th National Convention of The American Legion in Nashville, Tenn. Subject titles of the resolutions are in italics. For the full text, contact the Legion Library at (317) 630-1366, e-mail [email protected] or visit the Web site at Legion.org. Send a written request for a booklet of all approved resolutions to The Library, The American Legion, P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

AMERICANISM 411 Alert elected offi cials and public of massive infl ux of Joseph E. Caouette Jr. (NH), Chairman illegal immigrants and the consequences of mass 406 Urges president and Congress to effectively fund immigration. Calls for Immigration Reform. and staff positions to provide for Internal Security of the 412 Amend the law to allow Injured or Disabled United States and to deny individuals or groups the Non-citizen Veterans Applying for Naturalization to ability to infi ltrate and destroy the U.S. government. receive naturalization with less than three years 407 English be Declared as Offi cial U.S. Language. active-duty service if injured in the U.S. Armed Forces and honorably discharged. 408 Return Patriotic Holidays to Traditional Dates. 413 Amend Constitution to allow public School Prayer. 409 English be Used in Naturalization Ceremonies. 414 Supports Constitutional Amendment to Protect the 410 Urges denying benefi ts to Illegal Aliens, support Flag of the United States. penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, and call for security of U.S. borders. 415 Seeks legislation to Oppose Foreign Manufacture of American Flags.

34 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Legion honors Parton with ‘Good Guy’ award When The American Legion presented Dolly Parton with of dollars in her home county of Sevier, Tenn., as well its annual James V. Day “Good Guy” Award, she said the as nationwide, for children’s educational programs. real honor was meeting the Legionnaires honoring her. Her Imagination Library program, now operating in Parton couldn’t hide her 255 communities in 34 states, appreciation and admiration for provides a book a month from the Legion during the award’s birth until age 5 for all children in presentation Aug. 30 at the Past participating communities. Department Commanders Club For Parton’s efforts in raising Luncheon. awareness for the needs of rural “It’s a great honor to be here in people in her home county, Fort the company of you folks,” Sanders Sevier Medical Center Parton said. “What I do is very named its family birthing unit small compared to what you have after her. The unit offers state-of- done and what you continue to the-art equipment in a pleasant do. I can’t think of anything I’d and comfortable environment, rather be doing than accepting close to home. this award.” “Dolly Parton’s contributions to The James V. Day “Good Guy” improving lives, from the hills of Award honors the spirit of giving Tennessee to countless cities and to community and nation. Parton towns all across America, said patriotism is alive and well in exemplify the spirit of the James America, and the Legion is proof V. Day ‘Good Guy’ Award,” of that. PDCC president Tom Bock said. “It is an honor to recognize her “I’m not a bit political, but I am for her many contributions to patriotic,” she said. “When you strengthening the American meet people like this, you put all way of life.” politics aside and think about what America is and what makes Entertainment legend Dolly Parton accepts “I don’t know if I’m a good guy, it so great. These (Legionnaires) the James V. Day “Good Guy” Award for her but I try to be,” said Parton, who are great people. We live in a contributions to community and nation. plans to display the award plaque great country in America, and I James V. Carroll in her Dollywood museum. “I am very happy to be a part of that.” thank you for keeping America safe and being what you are. I appreciate this more than I can say.” In addition to being a country music legend, Parton founded Dollywood Enterprises, which provides millions – Steve Brooks

416 Opposes legislation allowing Conscientious 424 Supports providing federal agencies with resources Objectors Tax Diversion from military spending. for Tracking Arrival and Departure of Foreign Visitors to 417 Oppose Changes to Title V of the Immigration and the United States. Nationality Act. Title V allows secret evidence to be used 425 Support Fairness for Immigrant Spouses by waiving to identify terrorists and those linked to terrorists. two-year eligibility restrictions to widows and widowers 418 Illegal Immigration Compromises National Security. of those killed in the U.S. military and waive fees for Apprehend and incarcerate illegal immigrants. posthumous citizenship awarded to U.S. servicemembers killed in combat. 419 Oppose Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. 426 Reform of the Non-Immigrant Visa Program. Arrest 420 Oppose Financial Aid for Illegal Alien Students. and deport those who commit visa fraud and limit 421 Reform of the Student Visa System. categories for visa issuance. 422 Supports adoption of an Immigration Policy for the 427 Protect College Students Activated for Guard/ 21st Century that will eliminate social, economic and Reserve Duty by granting leave of absence without loss population problems caused by illegal immigration. of college credits, scholarships or tuition. 423 Amend the “Temporary Protected Status” Portion of 428 Supports Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance. the Immigration Act of 1990 to limit coverage to Opposes dilution or elimination of phrases. residents legally in the United States. 429 Supports Armed Forces Day. 430 Award Medal of Honor to the Four Chaplains.

November 2004 35 The American Legion Magazine said. “It was like beating our the Delta Ballroom more than heads up against the wall. We three hours before Bush was took a big step this year. It scheduled to speak. Much of wasn’t what we wanted, but what the Republican incum- the government never wanted bent said struck a chord with to say a person could draw the audience. both (payments). They have “We meet today at a time of now. We will continue to war for our country – a war work on this.” we did not start, yet one that Brieden said the Legion has we will win,” Bush said to the much to be proud of and was roar of the crowd. “If America quick to thank those respon- shows weakness or uncer- sible. “We asked for a World tainty in this decade, the War II Dedication Day in world will drift toward every community; you tragedy. This will not happen grabbed it and you ran with on my watch. it. There were 7,000 to “The world changed on that 8,000 communities that held terrible September morning, Dedication Day ceremonies. and since that day, we have You recognized World War II changed the world. Before veterans and thanked them Sept. 11, 2001, Afghanistan for their service. served as the home base of “You should be proud of al-Qaida, which trained and what we accomplished. The deployed thousands of killers 2.7 million members of The to set up terror cells around American Legion have made President George W. Bush assured Legionnaires the world, including our own a difference this year. It’s that, on his watch, America will not show uncer- country. Because we acted, been an honor and a privilege tainty or weakness. Tom Strattman Afghanistan is a rising to serve as your national democracy. I don’t know commander, but the guy who puts A Two-Day Debate. President whether you know this or not, but on the red hat isn’t the one who Bush and Sen. Kerry spoke before over 10 million Afghan citizens gets it done. It’s the ones who put standing-room-only crowds at the have registered to vote in the on the blue caps across the convention. On Tuesday, Legion October presidential elections. country.” family members lined up outside Because we acted, many young

CHILDREN & YOUTH 399 Support for the Offi ce of Juvenile Justice & Elmer Fuhrhop (OH), Chairman Delinquency Prevention. 389 Provide equal treatment in Admission of Children of 400 Reduce Violence and Vandalism in the Schools. U.S. Citizens regardless of country of origin. 401 Policy Statement on Family supports preserving 390 Federal and state governments should provide marriage as between a man and woman through federal fi nancial assistance to treat Catastrophic Illness Among legislation or constitutional amendment. Children. ECONOMICS 391 Opposes use of Children in Pornographic Literature. Kenneth Sercerchi (ME), Chairman 392 Supports Comprehensive Health Care for Children 31 Provide Payment of Death Benefi t if Montgomery GI and Youth. Bill Is Not Used. 393 Adequately fund programs to stop Drug Traffi cking. 35 Support Legislation for Activated Reservists including 394 Establish National Family Week. income insurance and tax credits. 395 Opposes weakening of penalties for Production, Sale 36 Urges changing tax code so veterans and families and Distribution of Obscene Literature. serving after 1976 can participate in Qualifi ed Veterans 396 Protect Children from the Unrestricted Media. Mortgage Bonds programs. 397 Reaffi rming Immunization Program for children. 40 Add Active Reservists to Those Eligible for Certain Job Training Service. 398 Supports funding School Nutrition Program.

36 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine ‘Reconnect’ works Legion’s Recruiter of the Year sets membership standard.

Legionnaire Nathaniel King knows a thing or two about recruitment of new members. We need to go out and recruiting, and he has the credentials to prove it. take advantage of those opportunities. So we do.” In the past three years, King has never fi nished below King, a retired U.S. Army fi rst sergeant who served at third in the National Recruiter of the Year competition. Fort Benning, maintains contacts at the base and He placed third in 2002, routinely makes Reconnect visits with a second last year and, in team of Post 267 Legionnaires. Each Nashville, was honored with team member is responsible for a this year’s fi rst-place award. different aspect of the Reconnect. Since 2001, he has brought “We have one person who talks about 842 new members into The benefi ts and another who acts as a American Legion, and this service offi cer,” King said. “Every person year, by the time the has a different job to do and talks for convention began, he’d seven or eight minutes. Then I close out already recruited 100 more. by taking questions.” King’s success is shared In order to prepare for these sessions, with Post 267 in Columbus, King says the post conducts a breakfast Ga., home of 26 Gold workshop every three months to train Brigaders, the award given Legionnaires on how to answer Nathaniel King of Post 267 in Columbus, Ga., to Legionnaires recruiting questions that may come up during a has recruited more than 900 veterans to join 50 or more new members. Reconnect visit. The 2003 Recruiter of the The American Legion. James V. Carroll “When you go out recruiting, questions Year, Walter Eddie Saffold, are asked,” he said. “You have to have the answers. We also is a member and fi nished second to King nationally know we are going to get some people who say, ‘I just this year. It’s the fi rst time the top two recruiters in the don’t want to join The American Legion.’ That’s when nation have come from the same post in back-to-back you start telling them about programs in the Legion, like years. Boys State, Oratoricals, Legion Baseball. You make them The success of Post 267 is no secret. Members use a understand that they aren’t just going to be a number in Reconnect formula at nearby Fort Benning that King calls the organization.” “one of the top programs in the United States,” and the The post also 2004 MEMBERSHIP AWARDS result has been a 500-percent growth since 2000. conducts other All-time highs “We focus on recruitment, retention and activities, such as Departments of Nevada, revitalization,” said King, a 10-year Legion member. “We carnivals for the Delaware and Florida know that right now we have amazing opportunities for families of deployed Traditional 100-percent servicemembers and membership Reconnect boon monthly membership Departments of Delaware, appreciation nights to 2500 Vermont and Puerto Rico recognize Fort Benning units. And whenever Fort Benning inducts noncommissioned offi cers, Post 267 hosts the event. 2000 “The leadership at (Fort Benning) pushes The American Legion,” King said. “They want their soldiers to go where things are going to be done right, so they tell 1500 Membership at Post 267 them to go to The American Legion.” in Columbus, Ga., has Post 267 Legionnaires are persistent in all of their increased almost recruiting efforts, not just at Fort Benning. 500 percent in the past 1000 “If we see a retired-veteran tag on a car, we ask that five years, due mostly person if he or she is a part of The American Legion,” to the post’s Reconnect King said. “We feel every veteran should be a part of The efforts. 500 American Legion. “Our success isn’t just because of me. It’s because we have people who believe in what The American Legion stands for.” 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 – Steve Brooks Holly K. Soria

November 2004 37 The American Legion Magazine girls now go to school for constitutional amendment to the fi rst time. Because we protect the fl ag from desecra- acted, Afghanistan is an tion. I think (Sen.) John ally in the war on terror. McCain put it best when he Because we acted, America said, ‘American blood has and the world are safer.” been shed all over the world Bush defended his for the American fl ag, and I decision to invade Iraq and believe it deserves respect.’” remove Saddam Hussein Bush also praised Principi from power. “When we and what his department has sent inspectors, or when done toward improving the U.N. sent inspectors veterans health care. into Iraq, (Hussein) system- “I am proud of the job that atically deceived the our secretary is doing,” Bush inspectors,” Bush said. “So said. “Thanks in large part I had a choice to make: do I to Tony’s leadership, my forget the lessons of Sept. administration has a solid 11 and take the word of a record of accomplishment for madman, or do I take our veterans. When my 2005 action to defend our budget request is approved country? Given that choice, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry hugs a by Congress, we will have supporter after promising Legionnaires he will I will defend America every increased overall funding for strengthen VA. Tom Strattman time. Even though we did our nation’s veterans by not fi nd the stockpiles that we safer with Saddam Hussein sitting almost $20 billion, or thought we would fi nd, Saddam in a prison cell.” 40 percent, since 2001. We have Hussein had the capability of The president also reaffi rmed his increased funding for our veterans making weapons of mass destruc- support for a constitutional amend- more in four years than the tion, and he could have passed ment to protect the U.S. Flag from previous administration did in that capability on to the enemy, desecration. “Our fi ghting men and eight years. We have increased VA and that was a risk we could not women are serving America under medical-care funding by 41 afford to take after Sept. 11. a proud fl ag, and that fl ag should percent over the last four years. Knowing what I know today, I be cherished and protected,” he We’re bringing care to more would have taken the same said, prompting another standing veterans more quickly. Since 2001, action. America and the world are ovation. “Like you, I support a we have enrolled 2.5 million more

42 Reaffi rm Support for Transitional Assistance Program 55 Support Tax Credits for Certain Employers who pay for separating servicemembers. difference between military and civilian pay to 43 Support Full Funding for Veterans Employment and employees called to military duty. Training Service (VETS). 56 Support Recognition of Military Service and Pay When 44 Support Improvement of VETS. Calculating Starting Federal Civilian Salaries. 49 Oppose Transfer of VETS to Department of Veterans 58 Support Disabled Veterans as Priority Under Affairs. Americans With Disabilities Act. 50 Oppose Eliminating or Outsourcing of VETS programs. 59 Support Job Protection for Service-Connected Veterans Requiring Visits at VA Facilities. 51 Amend Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 to include those who served honorably 179 days 66 Reaffi rm Support of the Small Business or more. Administration’s Offi ce of Veterans Business Development. 52 “Hire a Veteran” Week. 69 Delimiting Date for Using the GI Bill should be waived 53 Support Staffi ng Local Veterans Employment on case-by-case basis. Representatives (LVERS), As Required by Law. 73 Supports Funding for Homeless Programs. 54 Reaffi rm Support for Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act (SMOCTA). 75 Supports Reimbursement for Correspondence and Distance Learning Courses to veterans at 90 percent of tuition rate.

38 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Countdown to ‘Impact’ Legion family members turn out to cast votes in presidential straw poll. American Legion Auxiliary member Diana Garman John Kerry. There also was the opportunity to register knows all about increasing voter awareness. The to vote, as well as cast a vote in a straw poll incoming president for the presidential election. Department of Oklahoma has Cecil Phillips, South Carolina’s organized several voter-registration Zone 2 commander, has been events at Unit 141 in Claremore, coming to national conventions since Okla. Naturally, Garman planned to 1989. A member of Frank Roach Post stop by The American Legion’s 34 in Rock Hill, S.C., he appreciated “Impact 2004: Military and Veterans the opportunity to cast an early vote. Vote” booth set up outside the Delta “I think this is a very good idea,” Ballroom in the Gaylord Opryland Phillips said. “I think it’s really going Hotel. to be a close race as far as the “I think this is a wonderful idea,” popular vote goes. In South Carolina, Garman said. “I’m constantly telling I think a lot of the older people over veterans, ‘You are the ones who age 60 are probably going to vote fought to keep us free, and now one straight party. But I think the younger of the rights we have because of that people will cross parties in this is to vote so we can keep our election. It will be interesting to see country this way.’” where veterans stand in all this.” “One of the most important Results of the poll will be things we can do in our communities released Nov. 1. While many is make people aware of the issues veterans commented on both and encourage them to get out candidates, Garman chose to talk and vote.” about voting itself. In March, the Legion launched the “I tell people that if you don’t “Impact 2004” campaign, which is register to vote or if you don’t vote, aimed at increasing both voter you can’t argue with me about registration and awareness among Past National Commander Joe Frank politics,” she said. “And if you don’t servicemembers and veterans. At casts his vote in the Legion’s online vote because you say your vote the booth, Legion family members presidential straw poll. Tom Strattman won’t make a difference, I tell you could read up on key issues in the that the only vote that doesn’t president election, as well as the stances of both matter is the one someone doesn’t cast.” President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger – Steve Brooks

76 Supports Homestead Privilege to Veterans. 284 Require VETS to Hire Veterans. 82 Congress and states should provide Assistance to 285 VA’s Home Loan Guaranty Program should raise American Legion Posts Helping Homeless Veterans. limits to at least $300,000. 131 Support Preference for Veterans-Owned Businesses. 289 Support Improvements of VETS Performance 140 Support the Small Business Loan Program in VA. Standards. 214 Oppose Any Weakening of the Disabled Veterans 292 Support Licensure and Certifi cation of Active-Duty Outreach Program and LVER Programs. Personnel for civilian occupations. 244 Supports Employment of Veterans in Government 293 Support Major Enhancements for the Montgomery Workforce. GI Bill. 265 Allow Military Retirees to Apply for Positions in 295 Support Priority of Service for Veterans in All State Federal Law Enforcement After Age 37. Employment Services Agencies’ (SESA) One-Stop Centers. 268 Credit Service of Military Retirees Towards Federal Employment Benefi ts. 296 Support the Development of Veterans On-the-Job Training Opportunities. 273 Supports VA Home Loan Guaranty Program. 297 Support the National Veterans Training Institute. 280 Raise Ceiling on VA Home Loans for Two Legally Married Eligible Veterans. 298 Urge State Employment Security Agencies to Report Veterans’ Wages at Placement.

November 2004 39 The American Legion Magazine was the fi rst president in over a hundred years to sign concurrent- receipt legislation.” Kerry also saw eye to eye with Legionnaires on several issues and received the most enthusiastic response when talking about improving the VA health-care system. “In recent weeks, you have heard from some who have claimed that the job is getting done for veterans,” Kerry said. “Well, just saying the job is getting done doesn’t make it so. My friends, let me tell you when the job will be done. The job will be done when 500,000 veterans Staff Sgt. Ed Stevens plays “Taps” during the convention’s patriotic prayer are not excluded from the VA service. Tom Strattman health-care system, when we stop veterans in health-care services. veterans who need it most, those closing VA hospitals so that We have increased outpatient with service-related disabilities veterans don’t have to struggle or visits from 44 million to and low incomes and special travel extraordinary distances to 54 million. We’ve increased the needs. We’ve established a new get the care they need. The job number of prescriptions fi lled scheduling system to make will be done when the govern- from 98 million to 116 million. certain that veterans seeking care ment stops asking veterans for We’ve reduced the backlog of for a service-connected condition increased co-payments, enroll- disability claims by about a third. are the fi rst in line. For more than ment fees and other charges to We will reduce it even further. We a century, federal law prohibited shift the burden of care to other have cut the average time it takes disabled veterans from receiving veterans and drive more than a to process disability claims by both their military retired pay and million veterans out of the system. 70 days. We’re getting the job their VA disability compensation. “The job will be done when done for our veterans. Combat-injured and severely 400,000 military retirees get full “We have focused resources on disabled veterans deserve better. I concurrent receipt. If you earned a

302 Supports Veterans Preference for Housing in the 195 Urges maintaining security of Panama Canal. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 196 U.S. government should use all means necessary to 303 Supports Veterans Small Business Opportunities. systematically and completely eliminate Terrorism. 360 Supports Veterans Hiring Preference from Employers 197 U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives must include with Federal Contracts or Grants. achievement of world peace with freedom using a peace FOREIGN RELATIONS through strength posture; support for ending the scourge David Rehbein (IA), Chairman of terrorism, participation in security alliances provided allies contribute their fair share; opposition to spread of 1 Applauds Sovereignty in Iraq. WMDs; and recognition that the president is chief 4 Support for Taiwan. architect of U.S. foreign policy and protection of U.S. vital 5 Support for Peaceful Resolution of Taiwan Strait interests worldwide. Tensions. 252 Supports Free Trade Area of The Americas. 104 Urges isolating state sponsors of terrorism in U.S. 253 Supports U.S. control of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Relations with Africa. and the development of democracy and a free market in 193 Supports improving Humans Rights in Vietnam. Cuba. 194 Supports Adequate Resourcing for the 254 Supports U.S.-Latin American Educational Programs U.S. Department of State. as long as students are verifi ed as legitimate before obtaining visas.

40 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Top Army offi cial pushes VA-DoD parternship for disabled veterans. Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee calls today’s U.S. military “the next greatest generation.” At The American Legion’s 86th National Convention, Brownlee said, “Our soldiers today have inherited the diffi cult task of maintaining the freedom that each of you fought to defend, in Europe or the Pacifi c, in Korea or Southeast Asia, in the Middle East or other now- quiet battlefi elds. Through courage and selfl ess service, our soldiers have always answered the call to duty, and they will continue to defend the United States.” The retired colonel and decorated Vietnam War veteran manages the Army’s $80 billion budget and 1.3 million active duty, National Guard, Army Reserve and civilian personnel. A Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient, Brownlee believes the Army has a solemn duty to help disabled veterans make successful transitions to new occupations or Acting Army Sec. Les Brownlee greets a World War II veteran during home stations in the Army. He recently spoke a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day. with The American Legion Magazine. SSG Daniel J. Reynolds, U.S. Army

Q: Mr. Secretary, can you explain the Disabled Soldier organizations like The American Legion have been very Support System (DS3) Program for us? forthcoming in offering to help these soldiers who are Acting Secretary Brownlee: When this war began, and transitioning out and helping them fi nd new professions. it became apparent it would be going for a little while, and Q: Are the other services interested? we started having wounded soldiers come back … and some of them had injuries that clearly indicated they A: They really don’t have the numbers of casualties now probably would not be allowed to stay in the military, a that the Army does, but the Marines are starting to. signifi cant number of soldiers, despite some wounds that If (for instance) a Marine calls – or someone from any are not insignifi cant – loss of limbs, loss of eyes, things like other service – they are to be helped the same way. that – these soldiers want to stay in the war. They really all And sometimes people ask, “What if somebody calls want to go back to their units, to their buddies. Clearly in requesting help is a Vietnam vet or something?” some cases they could not. So some of them would be Help them. Give them whatever assistance you can. transferring … transitioning from the Department of the We put it together and formulated it to address the Army to the VA back to private lives. In past wars situation right now, but we don’t want it to be limited occasionally a soldier fell through the gap and got to just them. Anybody who’s out there that needs the overlooked or something was lost in his fi le. I called (VA service, we’ll help. Secretary Anthony Principi) and suggested that we get some of our people together and set up a system to Q: What is your observation – what you’ve seen in Iraq ensure that no one falls through the cracks. Tony and Afghanistan – compared to what we’ve been hearing wholeheartedly agreed and we ended with some of his in the media? people at Walter Reed – working there – and other A: Anytime that you’re getting your information through hospitals making all of this happen. We did that for several the news organizations, you getting a more pessimistic, months and then within the army we decided we needed dismal side than what you get over there. It’s not that it’s to institutionalize it. We wanted to be sure that if a soldier not a serious situation. It is. It’s a tough situation and – after leaving the hospital and going home – had some there’s a lot of hard and diffi cult work to do. But the thing benefi t that he was unsure of, or some question, could get that I fi nd is how optimistic and encouraging the soldiers a response. So we set up a Web site (www.ArmyDS3.org) are. They pretty much know what they’re doing. They get and a phone number (1-800-833-6622) and put an offi ce it. You go over there, and talk to them and you come together and manned it so that any soldier, any time, back motivated, yourself. These men and women who could call up and get the right answer, get the right have volunteered to serve their country while their information to whatever question he had. We called it the country’s at war are extraordinary young people. So I just Disabled Soldier’s Support System. The intent is to track a can’t say enough good about them. I think they deserve soldier from the time of casualty notifi cation all the way all of the attention we can give them. Anything we can through treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, therapy, and if do for them we’ve got to do. They’re certainly carrying a they remain in the service, fi ne. If they transition out of the heavy load right now. military, then it continues. And veterans service – Interview: John Raughter

November 2004 41 The American Legion Magazine pension, it’s yours – just like in the private sector. If you get a disability payment, it is because you have suffered. I don’t believe you subtract what you suffered from what you earned. The job will be done when there are no homeless veterans on the streets of America, when 320,000 veter- ans are no longer waiting for decisions on disability claims and another 100,000 are no longer awaiting appeals decisions. The job will be done when the VA secretary doesn’t have to com- plain that he needs $1.2 billion more, because he was turned down by a White House that spent the money on tax cuts for those at the top instead. I believe veterans come fi rst. Fred Holder of the 2nd District Color Guard, Porter County, Ind., salutes during “The job will be done when Saturday’s color-guard competition. Tom Strattman we repeal the tax on military While Kerry praised the job U.S. job. I would’ve given the inspec- widows. And, mark my words, the servicemembers have performed, tors the time they needed to do job will be done when the family he criticized Bush’s military the job. I wouldn’t have ignored of 21-year-old Jay Briseno, a strategy and offered what would my senior military advisers. I veteran facing a lifetime of have been his approach to the war would’ve made sure that every disability, doesn’t have to sleep at on terrorism. soldier put in harm’s way had the his bedside because the VA can’t “I would have relied on Ameri- equipment and body armor they afford to give him the round-the- can troops in Tora Bora when we needed. I would have built a clock nursing care he needs. had bin Laden in our sights,” he strong, broad coalition of our That’s not right, that’s certainly said. “I never would have divert- allies around the world. not compassionate, and that won’t ed resources so quickly from “And, if there’s one thing I happen when I’m president.” Afghanistan before fi nishing the learned from my service, I would

255 Supports the War on Drugs. INTERNAL AFFAIRS 256 Continue economic aid to friendly, democratic Herman G. Harrington (NY), Chairman nations in Central America. 326 Preserve World War I Veterans Memorial in Mojave 260 Permit Social Security Benefi ts for Non-Resident Desert and preclude courts from awarding attorney fees Alien Spouses residing in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, to groups such as the ACLU for bringing lawsuits to Nicaragua and Panama. remove religious symbols. 321 Make Priority POW/MIA Actions by obtaining 402 Support an Amendment to the Internal Revenue fullest possible accounting and remains of missing Code to Require the Secretary of the Treasury to Set the U.S. servicemembers from all wars. Charitable (Volunteer) Standard Mileage. 322 Reform the United Nations in several areas, including 403 Award Medal of Freedom to (Past National the establishment of an equitable fi duciary relationship Commander and Author of GI Bill) Harry Colmery. with the United States and admittance of Taiwan for full 404 Urges state legislatures to award Legal Immunity for membership. Volunteers supporting their communities except those 323 America’s Leadership in the New Millennium should who demonstrate willful, gross or intentional negligence. include a bipartisan foreign policy that secures peace 405 Expresses Appreciation to Host City of Nashville, and security for the United States, a reevaluation of Tenn., for supporting the 86th National Convention. strategic relationships and a review of all diplomatic relations and collective security agreements.

42 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine When America’s hometown goes to war Lt. Gen. Steven Blum is Chief of the National Guard Bureau. He is responsible for formulating, developing and coordinating all policies, programs and plans for more than 500,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel. In his address to the National Convention, he spoke about today’s citizen soldiers. Below is an excerpt: In the past, only a small percentage of Guard members the global war on terrorism within the last fi ve years. were veterans. Today, over 60 percent of the Army and Soon, all eight will be engaged. That is a different National Air National Guard are combat veterans Right now, about Guard than your father’s National Guard. We have become 20 percent – one in fi ve – of our active-duty soldiers, an essential force. Forty percent of American soldiers in sailors, airmen and Marines are deployed. In Iraq are Guardsmen and the National Guard, the percentage is even reservists. This nation should higher. Twenty-seven percent of Army and Air never send its sons and National Guard troops are deployed around daughters to war for anything, the world today. That’s over 100,000 citizen to any place, without the soldiers and airmen deployed in 44 countries National Guard going, because around the world, taking the fi ght to our when you call out the National adversaries in the global war on terrorism. Guard, you call out America, In the next two years, at our current rate, and you send America’s eight out of 10 of our Army and Air National hometown to war. Guardsmen will be combat veterans of this If anyone tells you that war. The Army and Air National Guard have people join the National never been used more than they’re being Guard to avoid the draft, I used today. They are defending your home- Lt. Gen. Steven Blum describes the would like to explain some- land right here in America every day, guard- thing. The draft ended 31 new National Guard. James V. Carroll ing critical infrastructures and key Depart- years ago. And if there’s still ment of Defense facilities. At the same time, they are somebody serving in the National Guard to avoid the responding to reduce human suffering and loss of life draft, they’ve probably deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and property such as you saw in Hurricane Charlie, forest Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti or Guantanamo. Or they’re standing fi res in the West and Northwest, and fl ooding in the guard here in the United States. These young men and middle Atlantic states. And they’re keeping the peace in women who have answered the call today are the fi nest Bosnia, Kosovo and the Sinai. that I have seen in my 37 years in uniform. None of them There was talk years ago about the National Guard has to be here, and all of them responded when called. divisions being “Cold War relics” and unnecessary. There Not a single citizen soldier failed to report when called to are only eight National Guard divisions. When the 42nd duty. That is a very strong testimony. Don’t let anybody Division headquarters deploys to Iraq, seven of the eight tell you that the young people today are not up to the National Guard divisions will have deployed overseas in task. They are up to the task.

NATIONAL SECURITY 121 Supports Aeronautical Production and Space Allen L. Titus (IN), Chairman Exploration. 10 Supports Awarding the Cold War Victory Medal. 122 Supporting the National Space Program. 11 Opposes Foreign Investments in the American 123 Supports Funding the National Aeronautics and Defense Industries. Space Administration Budgets. 12 Urges Rebuilding America’s Defense Industrial Base. 124 Supports for the U.S. Air Force. 27 Supports Domestic Energy and Production by building 156 National Security Principles should include new nuclear plants, increasing U.S. petroleum reassessing missions and resource alignment, retaining exploration and conservation. Selective Service registration, realistic funding of 28 Local governments affected by storage and disposal weapons and training, honoring obligations to troops and of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste should be involved veterans, and an enhanced GI Bill for education. in the planning process and receive appropriate benefi ts. 157 Ensure a Strong National Defense through several 77 Supports Alternative Energy Resources. measures including enhanced military quality of life, annual defense spending of 3.5 percent of GDP, realistic 78 Supports Energy Conservation. funding of force modernization, and an expression of 116 Supports properly Wearing the U.S. Flag Patch on gratitude for men and women in uniform. U.S. Army uniforms. 158 Urges government contractors to Buy American. 159 Supports National Missile Defense System.

November 2004 43 The American Legion Magazine never have gone to war without a plan to win the peace.” Kerry also spoke on the econo- my and its effects on those currently in, or just leaving, the military. “When our soldiers plan the family budget, we believe they deserve more than four more years of a government that’s going deeper and deeper into debt,” Kerry said. “Our plan will cut the defi cit in half in the next four years. We will do it by passing the reforms John McCain and I have fought for to end corporate welfare – and by making government stay within a budget, just like you do. When our soldiers pay their taxes, we believe they deserve better National Adjutant Robert Spanogle presents his 1942 WLA Harley Davidson than four more years of a fi scal motorcycle during the convention parade. The motorcycle was originally shipped policy that has raised the tax to the Russians for use in World War II. James V. Carroll burden on middle-class families. Our plan will cut taxes for the Health-care costs are crushing More Power at the Podium. Bush middle class and working families business and individuals alike. … and Kerry weren’t the only – to help them pay for health care, I believe we have an important prominent speakers to address the child care and sending a son or obligation to see to it that that convention. VA’s Principi, Home- daughter to college. America is no longer the only land Security’s Ridge, Joint Chiefs “And when our soldiers and industrialized nation in the world of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard their families get sick, I really that doesn’t understand that Myers and the nation’s top Na- believe they deserve better than health care is not a privilege for tional Guard offi cial all delivered four more years of rising costs, the wealthy, the connected and stirring speeches to the assembly. skyrocketing premiums, and no the elected – it is a right for every “I’m here to tell you how very plan to do anything about it. single American.” proud I am to be your secretary,

160 Calls for clear guidelines and exit strategy for 170 Support for the Non-Federal Roles of the National U.S. Forces in Peacekeeping Operations. Guard. 161 Supports The Armed Forces Retirement Homes. 171 Support for State Defense Forces. 162 Continue The Transformation of the Armed Forces. 172 Support for the Jones Maritime Act and Related 163 Retain and expand The Uniformed Services Cabotage Laws. University of the Health Sciences. 173 Promote Commercial Shipbuilding for Defense. 164 Support for the Armed Forces and their Families. 174 Fully fund DoD Healthcare for Military Benefi ciaries. 165 Combating Crime in America through several 175 Modify Uniformed Services Former Spouses measures, including abolishing parole for fi rst-degree Protection Act in several areas and only include military murder, more jail time for certain fi rst-time offenders, pay in judicial determinations of appropriate support on a juvenile boot camps and mandatory sentencing. case-by-case basis. 166 Support for the Second Amendment. 176 The American Legion’s Position on the DoD’s Force 167 Supports Department Firefi ghter of the Year Awards. Health Protection Program urges continued congressional oversight and the tracking and following 168 Supports Funding Homeland Security. up with proper medical care. 169 Support for Homeland Security and the War on 177 Urges continued congressional oversight, follow-up, Terrorism. re-evaluation, care and development of new vaccines for

44 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine LEFT: Commander John Brieden arrives in style. Tom Strattman BELOW: Florida Junior Auxiliary members Angelina Francalancia and Amber Lynn, both 10, display patriotic pride. James V. Carroll CENTER: Five-year-old Jessica Ferris, Junior Auxiliary member of Post 5, Nashville, Tenn., waves a miniature fl ag as Old Glory marches by. Tom Strattman

Trevor Bacon of Post 249, Indianapolis, salutes the colors during Sunday’s parade. Tom Strattman

Patriotism on parade Bob Burger has marched in worse conditions. The Legionnaire from Post 62 in Chillicothe, Ohio, has attended more than 10 national conventions. In Nashville, he marched as part of the Department of Ohio’s color guard, along a mile-long parade route around the Opryland Hotel, fi nishing up a little damp from heavy humidity and 81-degree temperatures. “The best thing, I think, is when you march past a little kid, and he salutes the fl ag,” Burger said. “You get a tingling feeling when you see that.” Ninety-three delegations, bands and honored guests comprised the parade. Some walked; others rode in cars and vans. The Legion Riders rode in formation down the fi nal stretch of the parade route. The Department of Minnesota provided a sea of U.S. Flags to parade viewers, while the Iowa delegations carried corn stalks. National Commander John Brieden witnessed the entire display from the viewing stands, staying until the fi nal delegations passed the fi nish line. Mother Nature provided gray skies that eventually turned blue, and when the sun came out, temperatures climbed, but the day did not turn into one of the hot August scorchers for which the South is known. “I think it could have been harder on the older veterans,” said Dick Mollers, one of Minnesota’s incoming vice commanders and a member of Post 187 in Glenwood. “It was a little diffi cult at times with the humidity.” This parade was Mollers’ third, and he says he gets the same thrill every time. “It’s always fun to participate in the parade, ABOVE: A Legion Rider rumbles along especially when you look back and see the mass the parade route. Tom Strattman colors like Minnesota had,” he said. “It gives you LEFT: Boy Scout Luigi Sosta, 7, is a goosebumps to see all those American fl ags.” member of Middle Tennessee Council – Steve Brooks Troop 325 Color Guard. James V. Carroll

November 2004 45 The American Legion Magazine John Brieden works the convention fl oor during a recap of his year as national commander. James V. Carroll and I’m here to tell you how hung up your uniform, you our budget increased by such a humbled I am to be your secre- continued to serve. level. Never before have we cared tary,” Principi told the delegates. “And I’m very proud of the for more veterans. One million “You, individually and collective- accomplishments we’ve seen in more have received care since ly, embody what it means to be an the last three and a half years. It 2001. We’ve made great progress American. When your country wouldn’t have happened without (with backlogs), but we need to needed you, you answered the your advocacy. Never before in stay the course.” call. When you came home and the history of my department has Ridge said that while America

The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program. 186 Provisions of Status of Forces Agreements should be 178 The American Legion Policy of the Use of Deplete re-negotiated and should allow use of facilities by retired Uranium calls for additional scientifi c study and proper U.S. servicemembers and dependents. protective measures for personnel working near the 187 Supports Total Force Policy and Viable National munitions. Guard and Reserve Forces. 179 Support for the Selective Service System Registration 188 Supports Age 55 Military Retirement for Reservists. Program. 190 Supports Fully Funding the U.S. Navy and 180 Calls for TRICARE Eligibility for Members of the Marine Corps. Reserve Components and their Dependents. 191 Supports the U.S. Coast Guard in Homeland Security. 181 Urges Reforming the Military Absentee Voting 204 Urges the Navy to commission a System so all military personnel and their families will USS American Legion. have their votes counted. 238 Issue DD214s for Activated Guardsmen and 183 Supports Military Commissaries. Reservists. 184 Codify Burial Eligibility for Arlington National 317 Supports The Medal of Honor for Dorie Miller, USN. Cemetery and oppose waivers for those unqualifi ed. 434 The American Legion Role in Homeland Security 185 Supports Service of Women in the Armed Forces but urges Legionnaires, posts and departments to assist in opposing their service in direct combat specialties, local communities and work with Citizen Corps. including assignment on submarines.

46 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Annual award recipients FRANK N. BELGRANO JR. TROPHY OUTSTANDING DISABLED VETERANS OUTREACH For support of Boy Scouts PROGRAM SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR Department of Florida Jim Balog, Helena, Mont.

RALPH T. O’NEIL OUTSTANDING EDUCATION TROPHY EMPLOYMENT For showing the greatest Americanism SERVICE activity in use of The American Legion OFFICE OF THE School Medal Awards YEAR Department of Florida Pocatello Job Service Offi ce, Pocatello, Idaho WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST AMERICANISM TROPHY WILLIAM F. LENKER Department of Virginia NATIONAL SERVICE TROPHY FOURTH ESTATE AWARD FOR For best supporting OUTSTANDING JOURNALISM SPIRIT OF SERVICE AWARD WINNERS and implementing Enlisted armed services members honored Mark Benjamin programs to benefi t for volunteering in their local communities United Press International veterans and their For investigative reporting that Coast Guard families uncovered the plight of hundreds of Petty Offi cer 2nd Class Patricia Johnson Department of Ohio sick and wounded U.S. soldiers Navy “languishing” in hot cement barracks Petty Offi cer 2nd Class Luciana A. Rodriques GARLAND MURPHY at Fort Stewart, Ga., while they waited – AWARD Air Force For providing the most sometimes for months – to see doctors. Staff Sgt. Catherin C. Lammon His reporting prompted the Pentagon to contributions to rush doctors and dollars to Fort Stewart Army Child Welfare to provide assistance to Army Reserve Spec. Russell A. Burnham Foundation and National Guard Marine Corps Department of troops awaiting treatment. Cpl. Clinton F. Firstbrook (absent from photo) Minnesota

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR CWF LEGACY AWARD For companies or For contributing the most funds to Children’s businesses Miracle Network by the department’s entire dedicated to hiring veterans Legion family Small business Department of Ohio Wheatland Tube Company, Wheatland, Pa. JAMES V. DAY “GOOD GUY” AWARD Mid-size business Dolly Parton Wackenhut Service Inc., Spring Lake, N.C. COLOR GUARD CONTEST WINNERS Large business Military class Anderson Iron Works Inc., YOUTH PROGRAM HONOREES Second District Color Guard, Indiana Post Falls, Idaho American Legion Baseball Military open class Player of the Year Frank E. Booma Post 6, Portsmouth, N.H. NATIONAL LAW Jared James Willis Open class ENFORCEMENT Junior Shooting OFFICER OF THE YEAR Sports Champion Unit 469 “Spirit of 469,” Cleveland Howard County Police Wesley Hess Advancing/Retrieving Colors Contest Offi cer 1st Class Patrick W. Oratorical Champion Second District Color Guard, Indiana Eckley, Ellicott City, Md. Philip Bishop BAND CONTEST WINNERS LOCAL VETERANS Boys Nation President Concert Band REPRESENTATIVE Stephen Riley Harvell Band of the Tonawandas, Tonawanda, N.Y. OF THE YEAR Eagle Scout of the Year Parade Band Claud Miller, Anniston, Ala. Garrett Martin Band of the Tonawandas, Tonawanda, N.Y.

November 2004 47 The American Legion Magazine now is safer than it’s ever been, keeping it that way requires a grassroots effort. “(Homeland security) is a national strategy, not a federal one,” Ridge said. “It is a philosophy underpinned by shared responsibility, shared leadership, shared accountability – a shared imperative. The protection of this nation cannot be micromanaged from Washing- ton, D.C. Instead, it must be a priority in every city, every neighborhood and every home across America. And so, home- land security in the 21st century is really about the integration of a nation, and nations – led by national leaders, but also gover- Ed Whitney of Liverpool, N.Y., looks over a display of military pins in the conven- nors, mayors, airline personnel, tion’s Expo Hall. Tom Strattman border patrol agents, the intelli- gence community, law enforce- preserve. They have a humble “In the next two years, ment, fi refi ghters, diplomatic confi dence and a steely determi- eight out of 10 (National Guard) offi cers, business leaders, inter- nation. Most important, they members will be combat veterans national partners – citizens and represent the values of the of this war,” Blum said. freedom-loving people every- American people. The most “It’s a different National Guard where.” important weapon in our arsenal than your father’s National Guard Myers praised U.S. troops for is our values.” or your older brother’s National continuing what Legionnaires And Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, Guard. Forty percent of the started decades ago. “The legacy bureau chief of the National soldiers in Iraq are Guardsmen that you have worked so hard to Guard, updated Legionnaires on and reservists, and these men create is in very good hands,” he the changing role of the National and women who answered that said. “They are safeguarding the Guard, focusing on the war call today are the fi nest I have freedoms you fought so hard to against terrorism. ever seen.”

435 Supports The Pentagon Channel. Sclerosis as a Gulf War Presumptive Disease. 436 Urges full Concurrent Receipts of Military, Retired 20 The American Legion Policy on VA Medical School and Severance Pay and VA Disability Compensation for Affi liations. Disabled Retirees and Servicemembers and the 21 Protect Disability Rating After Ten Years. elimination of phase-in provisions. 22 Request Congress Provide VA Adequate Funding for 437 Supports and fund Quality of Life Features for Medical and Prosthetic Research Activities. U.S. Military, Guard, Reserve, veterans and their families. 23 Support Presumption of Service Connection for 438 Supports keeping Relevant and Ready the U.S. Army. Hepatitis C. 439 Supports The Citizen Corps. 90 Support Legislation to Remove the Bar on the VETERANS AFFAIRS & REHABILITATION Payment of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Paul A. Morin (MA), Chairman Benefi ts to Surviving Spouses Who Remarry After Age 55. 8 Support the Automatic Waiver of VBA Debts of 92 Support Special Pension for World War I Veterans. $250 or Less. 103 Improve the Disability and Death Pension Program. 9 The American Legion Policy on the Correction of 105 All Veterans Receive “Wartime” Benefi ts For Active Military Records supports eliminating time restrictions to Military Service Between Feb. 28, 1961, and Aug. 5, 1964. correct records. 111 Extend Presumptive Period for Amyotrophic Lateral 19 Supports The Establishment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis to Seven Years.

48 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Legion offers identity-theft protection The American Legion is working with the National idtheft. Identity-theft protection is available in coverage Association of International Travelers Inc. to provide limits of $10,000 and $20,000, and both are available American Legion family members with protection with a zero deductible. against a crime that can When you fi le a claim with adversely and permanently Legion ID Theft, you will affect your fi nancial situation. receive a complete kit of Identity theft is the fastest- materials to assist in the growing fi nancial crime in process of clearing your the United States. According name. The identity-theft to the Federal Trade recovery kit includes pre-fi lled Commission, more than professional letters to send to 27 million Americans have creditors and bureaus. been affected by identity Victims may endure a number theft in the past fi ve years. Nearly 10 million Americans of costly steps to dispute fraudulent debt and accounts were victim in 2002, opened by an identity thief. The American Legion Identity with a staggering cost to consumers of $53 billion. The Theft expense coverage reimburses an individual for: average victim spends $1,500, not including attorney n Lost wages up to $500 per week, subject to fees and time spent away from work to clear their the $2,000 aggregate limit; names. An estimated 2,000 people a day lose their n Legal defense fees and expenses; identity to thieves. n Costs for refi lling loan applications; and Identity theft occurs whenever an unauthorized individual uses your personal information – name, Social n Costs for notarizing documents, long-distance Security number or credit-card numbers – to open new phone calls and postage. accounts or charge merchandise in your name without The cost of the service is $24.95 per year for your knowledge or permission. People whose identities $10,000 worth of protection and $34.95 per year for have been stolen can spend months or years – and $20,000 worth of protection. thousands of dollars – cleaning up the mess thieves have Note: Insurance underwritten by member companies of made of their good name and credit record. In the American International Group Inc. The description herein meantime, victims can lose job opportunities, be refused is a summary only. It does not include all terms, loans for education, or even be arrested for crimes they conditions and exclusions of the policies described. didn’t commit. Please refer to the actual policies for complete details of Now, Legion family members can take advantage coverage and exclusions. Coverage may not be available of this identity-theft protection service by calling in all jurisdictions. (800) 433-3318 or going online to www.legion.org/ – Steve Brooks

112 Restore and Increase Burial and Plot Allowance. 153 Supports VA Role in National Emergency 113 Supports VA Involvement in the Department of Preparedness and calls for proper funding. Homeland Security and call for VA to be properly funded 154 The American Legion Policy on the State Veterans to do this. Home Program calls for VA funding 50 percent of daily 114 The American Legion Policy on the National care rates and full reimbursement of nursing-home care Cemetery Administration includes support for additional to 70 percent or higher service-connected veterans. cemeteries and opposition to user fees. 155 Calls for Revision of the Work-Rate Standards for VA 141 Supports The GI Bill of Health, including Medicare Adjudicators so they do not receive work-credit for a reimbursement and allowing dependents to use VA. claim until it becomes fi nal. 143 The American Legion Policy on Agent Orange 198 The American Legion Policy on Radiation seeking includes urging completion of scientifi c study and legislation to eliminate radiation dose estimate entitlement of presumptions to veterans and their requirements in claims for veterans exposed to ionizing children. radiation. 149 The American Legion Policy on VA Mental Health 199 The American Legion policy on Prostate Cancer and Services calls for a VA-based model to address mental Research and Treatment calling for increased VA funding. health needs of veterans and for annual congressional 200 Support Medicare Reimbursement for VA. oversight. 201 Supports Open-ended Presumptive Period for Undiagnosed Illnesses for Gulf War Veterans.

November 2004 49 The American Legion Magazine Service Equals Membership. formulation of programs to With the University of Michi- assist our men and women, gan fi ght song, “Hail to the and their dependents, who Victors,” echoing through the have gone off to protect this Delta Ballroom, Department of great country of ours.” Michigan delegates marched Cadmus also announced up and down each row, “The American Legion Blue campaigning for Cadmus for Star Salute” campaign, national commander. A short which will honor local mem- time later, the Hon. Judge H.F. bers of the U.S. Armed Forces, “Sparky” Gierke of North along with their families, Dakota swore in Cadmus. during Armed Forces Day “He’s been active in The celebrations. American Legion for a long “I ask each and every time, especially in a lot of Legionnaire and member of grass-roots projects,” said The American Legion to hold a Ronald Schrieber, a member hometown Blue Star Salute of Post 274 in Oscoda, Mich., next May,” Cadmus said. and a participant in the Sandi Dutton of Beltsville, procession backing Cadmus. Md., was elected national “He supports Legion programs president during the Ameri- wholeheartedly, and he’s a can Legion Auxiliary’s good man for the job. He Geri Bradley of Michigan shows her support for national convention, and believes in the Legion ideals.” candidate Tom Cadmus, who was sworn in as Michael J. Deacon of Ames, After accepting the nomina- the Legion’s national commander. Tom Strattman Iowa, was elected national tion, Cadmus vowed to lead commander of Sons of The the Legion through a year in World War I, our founding American Legion. x which service is the No. 1 priority. fathers knew they needed to take “My motto for this year is, care of their fellow soldiers, their Steve Brooks, editor of The Ameri- ‘Service equals membership,” widows and their dependents, can Legion Dispatch, is a contrib- said Cadmus, a member of the and that’s why they started The uting editor to The American Glen H. Daykin Post 155 in American Legion. The American Legion Magazine. Britton, Mich., and a resident of Legion has always supported the Ypsilanti, Mich. “At the close of Veterans Administration and the Article design: Holly K. Soria

202 The American Legion Policy on Gulf War Veterans 220 Oppose Increased Co-Payments and Enrollment Illnesses calls for VA to devote appropriate resources, Free for Priority Groups 7 and 8 Veterans to Receive further studies and continued development of the VA Health Care. Persian Gulf Registry. 221 Support Legislation to Mandate the National 203 Provide Full Funding for VA Construction Program. Institutes of Health to Reimburse VA for the Facility and 206 Annual State of VA Medical Facilities Report by The Administrative (“Indirect”) Costs of NIH-Funded Research American Legion be given to the National Convention Conducted at VA. and the U.S. President. 235 Amend Title 38, U.S. Code, to Remove the Specifi c 212 Include World War II Veterans in Priority Group 6 for Date for the Award of Indemnity Compensation Benefi ts VA Health Care. for Surviving Spouses of Former POWs. 217 Exempt VA Benefi ts and Services from Pay-Go 236 The American Legion Policy on VA National Service Provisions. Life Insurance calling for re-opening of the program for at least one year to disabled veterans. 218 Urge VA to Establish a Policy for Reimbursement of Payments When a Claim for Service Connection 237 The American Legion Policy on Nurse Recruitment and Is Awarded. Retention calling for VA to provide competitive wages. 219 Oppose Legislation Authorizing Legion-Accredited 239 Support Research About Breast Cancer. Representatives to Develop Claims for VA. 305 Reduce the Number of Years of 100 Percent Service Connection Required for DIC Purposes.

50 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine FAR LEFT: National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus and Auxiliary President Sandi Dutton wave to the crowd. James V. Carroll LEFT: Michael Deacon of Ames, Iowa, is the new Sons of The American Legion national commander. James V. Carroll BELOW: The new national commander, right, salutes the colors with his son, Brian, and daughter, Nicole. Tom Strattman

306 Exempt Certain Income from VA Pension Rate 330 The American Legion Policy on Former Prisoners Determination. of War calling for presumptive service-connection for 307 Allow Benefi ciaries to Retain $90 of Their VA Benefi ts several disabilities. While in Medicaid-Covered Nursing Homes. 331 The American Legion Policy on VA Medical Care 312 Exempt Purple Heart Recipients from Prescription Mandatory Funding stating that Congress should fund VA Co-Payment. in this manner. 318 The American Legion Policy on VA Nursing Home 431 The American Legion Policy on Opening the Federal Capacity calling for increasing unit capacity to higher Supply Schedule for Pharmaceuticals to Medicare and levels and suffi cient funding. Medicaid, opposing such legislation. 319 Amend Title 38, U.S. Code, to Increase the Special 432 The American Legion Policy on VA’s Capital Monthly Compensation K Award. Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Program calling for transparency and active Legion involvement in 327 The American Legion Policy Regarding Community- the process. Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) affi rms its support. 433 The American Legion’s Policy on VA’s Pharmacy 328 VA should continue to study health risks and Benefi ts Program opposing co-payment increases and compensate veterans effected by Project 112 / Operation supports VA’s current policy of extending benefi ts only to “Shipboard Hazard and Defense” (SHAD). enrolled veterans who use VA physicians or providers. 329 The American Legion Policy on VA Compensation calling for increased COLAS and disability compensation.

November 2004 51 The American Legion Magazine Roster for a New Legion Year Robert A. Mayrand National Charles W. Barrett National Vice Commander – Central Region Sergeant-at-Arms Home: Wyandotte, Mich. Home: Smyrna, Ga. Legion membership: 35 years, Post 160 Legion membership: Military service: U.S. Air Force, 1954-1963 33 years, Post 217 Occupation: Accountant Military service: Legion highlights: Post Adj., 1972-1979; Dept. Sr. Vice Cmdr., U.S. Army, seven years 2002-2003; Dept. Cmdr., 2003-2004 Occupation: Department National positions: National Security Cmsn., 2000-2001; Internal of Veterans Affairs Affairs Cmsn., 2001-2004 Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., Zone Cmdr., Region: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, France, Kansas, Louisiana, Dept. Sgt-at-Arms Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas National Positions: National and Homeland Security Cncl. Samuel Barney National Vice Commander – Midwest Region Home: Lancaster, Ohio Legion membership: 47 years, Post 11 James Torrington Akers Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, 12 years; U.S. Air Force, 16 years National Chaplain Occupation: Retired military Home: Madison, Kan. Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1973-1974; Dept. 1st Vice Cmdr., Legion membership: 1988-1989; Dept. Cmdr., 1989-1990 15 years, Post 5 National Positions: Legislative Cncl., 1975-2000; Sgt.-at-Arms, Military service: 1992-1993; Alternate NEC, 1996-1998; NEC, 1998-2000; American U.S. Army, 1952-1953 and Legion Magazine Cmsn., 1990-2004 1968-1969; U.S. Army Region includes: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North National Guard, 1963-1974 Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin Occupation: Minister, Priest of the Anglican Orthodox Church Legion highlights: Post Chaplain, Wayne B. Richey National Vice Commander – Southeast Region Dept. Chaplain, 1997-2004 Home: Greenwood, S.C. Legion membership: 28 years, Post 20 Military service: U.S. Army, 1956-1976 W. Frazier Brinley Occupation: Retired, U.S. Army National Historian Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1980-1981; Zone Cmdr., 1985- 1987; Dept. Cmdr., 1989-1990 Home: Clinton, Conn. National Positions: M&PA Cmte., 1985-2004 Legion membership: Region includes: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, 31 years, Post 103 Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Military service: Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia U.S. Navy, 1966-1970 Occupation: Sales Associate, U.S. Marco A. Valenzuela National Vice Commander – Western Region Postal Service Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1985-1986 Home: Tempe, Ariz. Legion membership: 51 years, Post 41 and 1994-1995; Dept. Sr. Vice Cmdr., 1999- Military service: U.S. Air Force, 1950-1954 2000; Dept. Cmdr., 2000-2001; Dept. Occupation: Retired, U.S. Department of Labor Historian, 1977-1978, 1987-1989 Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1987-1988; Dept. Vice Cmdr., National Positions: Children & Youth 1989-1990; Dept. Cmdr., 1991-1992 Cmsn., 1991-2004 National Positions: Veterans Affairs & Rehab. Cmsn., Economics Cmsn., American Legion Magazine Cmsn. Roger H. Webster Region includes: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Mexico, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Philippines, Utah, Aide to the Washington, Wyoming National Commander Home: Newaygo, Mich. Linda M. Thayer National Vice Commander – Northeast Region Legion membership: 30 years, Post 381 Home: Bellows Falls, Vt. Legion membership: 14 years, Post 37 Military service: U.S. Air Military service: U.S. Army, 1981-1994 Force, 1959-1963 Occupation: Registered nurse Occupation: Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1995-1996; Dept. Vice Cmdr., Self-employed, New-Clean Inc. 2000-2001; Dept. Cmdr., 2001-2002 Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1982-1984; National Positions: Distinguished Guests Cmte., 2003-2004 Zone Cmdr., 1998-1999 Region includes: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, National Positions: Aerospace Cmte., New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Foreign Relations Cmte., Military Affairs Rhode Island, Vermont Cmte.

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Modern Mythology Conspiracy theories, no matter how fantastic, captivate a public always hungry for a new hoax.

BY DENNIS McCAFFERTY ubiquitous and insatiable media – course). An abundance of Web enjoy far more than their requisite sites – the Conspiracy Nets and an anyone doubt we live in 15 minutes of fame. the Conspiracy Planets out there – the golden age of conspiracy post a fresh helping of panic every Ctheories? No longer confi ned They’re Everywhere. No event is day. Indeed, if you’re counting by to churning out their latest revela- too minor nor too intimidating – Web matches, the topic of conspir- tions on creaky typewriters and whether it's an alien invasion acy on the Internet is an even cranking up the old mimeograph cover-up, Watergate, Koreagate, bigger draw than Britney Spears. machines to distribute copies, Iran/Contra-gate, the various (And did you happen to know that modern-day conspiracy theorists Clintongates and, lest we not Spears is actually Satan? At least deploy 21st-century tech tools to forget, Moongate (the one about that’s what one online conspiracy get the word out and – thanks to a the moon landing being faked, of theorist contends.)

54 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Samuel A. Minick

It’s quite a niche, a niche Conspiracy theater,” public posturing to deceive built by those who add confu- Celebrity. the people. Now, he rails against sion to events in need of clarity Rising star Alex the “new world order,” a conspira- and offer alternative realities to Jones of Austin torial assault on the nation’s that which once seemed concrete. started with a local cable-access constitutional freedoms under the How seriously do people take this program, now hosts a radio show pretense of the war on terrorism. stuff? Seriously enough for NASA to broadcast in 80 cities and regularly As with many of his colleagues, shell out some $15,000 to convince appears on “Good Morning Jones scoffs at being labeled as a the public that it really did land America,” “20/20 Downtown,” conspiracy theorist. But he doesn’t men on the moon. Seriously “60 Minutes,” The Discovery protest, either. “I have one of the enough that the line between Channel, A&E, Court TV and a most diverse audiences imagin- conspiracy theorists and esteemed host of other top national outlets. able,” Jones says. “That’s because I newsmakers has become irrevoca- His site, Infowars.com, gets a expose both conservatives and bly blurred. Before the Web, the staggering 2 million visitors a liberals. The news media says designation of “pundit” was pretty week. And Jones is only 30 years those calling for a halt to the new much limited to the George Wills of old. He got started by watching world order are conspiracy theo- the world. Now, the perpetually C-SPAN in college, instead of rists. Well, this new world order is stressed-out, 20-something produc- ESPN, actually tracking down the all around the place. Before, half of er for that non-stop cable news bills discussed, so he could read my phone callers were saying I station has lots of broadcast them himself. was a kook. Now, those same minutes to fi ll, and fi lling them Jones concluded that the so- people are calling me to apologize, with the latest, wild-eyed conspira- called partisan wars between saying this thing really exists. All cy – regardless of its basis in fact – Democrats and Republicans were I’ve done is wake people up.” gets the job done. nothing more than “Shakespearian Jones is following the lead of

November 2004 55 The American Legion Magazine more English assistant professor Marcus body was a Manchurian candi- established Librizzi, who teaches a course on date: Jack Ruby and Mark David theorists, such as the subject, argues that America Chapman, for starters. Kenn Thomas. is a nation born from conspiracy – Thomas started “bathed in suspicion against What’s the Draw? The inclusive Steamshovel Press as a government and how it might, aspect of conspiracies is what small newsletter in 1988, without our vigilance, remove our attracts fans, experts say. Sure, and, from there, cultivated liberties,” he says. This is consis- many theorists side with a politi- a multimedia enterprise as the tent with the history of nations cal party and draw lines in the Web bloomed. He has published a throughout time: think back to sand (remember Hillary Clinton’s dozen books and a niche magazine the Aztecs’ rocky revenge tactics “vast right-wing conspiracy”). But with 3,000 paying subscribers. He against Montezuma, Julius many, like Jones, simply scout for has appeared on Fox and TNN. His Caesar’s ‘Et tu, Brutus?’ moment a good story to tell and then latch theory fodder has inspired “X- of discovery, the “Royal Ripper” on with a tight grip. Files” episodes and the Mel Gibson buzz that linked the British “Conspiracy theories are great, movie “Conspiracy Theory.” Royals to a Freemason crew that equal-opportunity doctrines,’’ Not that the rewards come killed as part of a secret ritual, says Jeff Hyson, a popular-culture without risks: “A couple of days and the witchhunts of Salem, specialist and assistant professor after returning from a speaking which neatly segued to the of history at St. Joseph’s Univer- engagement in Washington, D.C.,” witchhunts of Washington in the sity in Philadelphia. “People from Thomas says, “I came home and mid-20th century. both the left and the right can line the door was locked at the knob, These days, conspiracy theories up with them. We’re always unlocked at the deadbolt. I always fl y even more furiously. It’s not trying to rethink the past in a way lock at the deadbolt and keep the like Shakespeare’s day, when the that’s satisfying to the present. knob unlocked. How’s that for a latest messy piece of history had That means we remember some Mel Gibson scenario? I have reason to be meticulously woven into an facts and disregard the others. to believe that one of my writing elaborate script in iambic pentam- That allows us to recreate an partners and one of my book eter. We have no time for that interpretative framework that publishers were both killed today, with thousands of conspira- leads to a satisfying explanation through the use of clostridium cy theorists fl ourishing, all of how the past turned out the bacteria, which also has been competing for Web users’ time. way it did. People don’t want to found in a large percentage of those Shortly after Minnesota Sen. accept the randomness of history.” weird cattle mutilation cases ....” Paul Wellstone’s plane crashed last Let’s face it: a sizzling conspira- year, speculation immediately cy can be a lot of fun – a guilty Ancient Art. We’ll just have to fl ooded newsrooms and Web sites, pleasure, perhaps, like a good, take Thomas’ word for it, which suggesting he was murdered. The dime-store mystery novel. “Con- leads us to ask where all this “come one, come all” approach to spiracy theorists know how to tell began. Conspiracies are hardly an this sort of thing has resulted in a good story,” says Mark Fenster, invention of modern times. some wild rumors going around: co-author of Shakespeare made his name by Princess Diana was murdered by a “Conspiracy packing his pages with deliciously Satanist cult, America is bank- Theories: deadly plottings, to the point rupt, unemployed lawyers killed Secrecy and where even his name is the Nicole Simpson and framed O.J. in Power in subject of a lingering conspiracy, the process. The contrails conspir- American one proposing that the Bard didn’t acy is all the rage these days, actually pen all of those plays. But insisting that when airplanes leave conspiracies go back further than white lines of condensed vapor in that. They’re as old as the Scrip- the sky, they’re actually composed tures, which are loaded with of a toxic substance manufactured conspiratorial designs. Think back by the government to spray to the unfortunate, sibling- undesirables. You also have the organized demise of Joseph and mind-control theories, quite his Technicolor Dreamcoat. popular amid this conspiracy University of Maine at Machias chatter. It seems like every-

56 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine

Culture” (University of Seven conspiracy theories for the modern age Minnesota Press). Admit it: conspiracies are a guilty pleasure. Today’s most popular “That’s key to their conspiracies are a mix of new and old – some based on current events, success. They bring others classic chestnuts that simply refuse to die. meaning to an event. n The faked moon landing. It doesn’t get any better than this one: the giant They often have an leap for mankind was actually a footstep in the desert. Not when you mix implicit hero and politics with outer space, along with a stinging defl ation of “Right Stuff” always-explicit villains. mythology. Not when NASA spent $15,000 to counter public impressions that It works in novels and the moon landing never happened. Among questions posed by skeptical fi lm, right? So it works theorists: how could the fl ag be pictured fl uttering on the moon with no for these guys.” atmosphere or wind on the surface? Hmm. Author Jonathan Vankin n Princess Diana plottings. You could fi ll more than one book with these has made a cottage industry of theories: Diana was pregnant with Dodi Fayed’s child at the time of her chronicling the conspiracy death, Diana was actually supposed to marry Bill Clinton, the British royals community. In 1995, he pub- are actually murderous Freemasons, and so on. lished “50 Greatest Conspiracies n Contrails out to kill us. Those harmless-looking white lines of condensed of All Time.” By 1998, he had water vapor from airplanes that line the sky are actually a toxic substance increased the number of sprayed on us by the government. Once again, NASA is among the handful of conspiracies to 60. In 2000, federal agencies putting on a PR offensive to counter the claims. he republished it with co- n The United States is bankrupt. This is the fault of an “invisible author John Whalen as “70 government of monetary power,” a fi nancial elite “whose sick-brained Greatest Conspiracies of All Time” policies have spawned depression, war and revolution,” one scribe writes. (Kensington). n The clones are coming. Thanks to genetic engineering, no “real” Vankin is a big fan of the faked folks will be sent out to fi ght in times of war – clones will. If you can’t moon-landing theory. “Yeah,” he recruit the perfect soldier, just have a scientist make one in the lab. says, chuckling, “that’s the one n The “real” reason Titanic sank. That was no iceberg. It was a where we all thought the astro- German torpedo. Since then, the American and British governments nauts were on the moon. But they have covered it up. were really fi lming the ‘landing’ in n The alien autopsy. This oldie but goodie seems to sprout a sizzling new a desert in Nevada, and the development every week. In the latest, theorists say the CIA actually staged astronauts were actually getting the entire thing years ago, anticipating it would be exposed as a fraud, and, lap dances from showgirls some- therefore, discredit those annoying UFO reports. where in Vegas.” He said he feels NASA’s recent effort is a smart there,” Vankin says. “It took that exists. If not? Someone will be move. “One of the things that fuels long to infi ltrate the public mind happy to invent one. x conspiracy theories is that they’re until, by the 1970s, it was a popular always treated like nonsense when school of thought. These days, the Dennis McCafferty is a freelance a key element of society feels that theories emerge instantly. The day writer from Herndon, Va. they aren’t,” Vankin says. “When after Princess Diana died, we got e- the government is silent and mails at my Web site within Article design: Doug Rollison ignores it, it just confi rms there’s a literally minutes of the fi rst report conspiracy out there.” that she had died, saying that this However, the surge in popular- was a British intelligence ity, for now, hasn’t translated into operation. They contended that untold fortunes for conspiracy the British royal family theorists, experts say. Thomas wanted her wiped out.” says his business pays for itself, In the end, it seems wise but little else. The payoff is to stop worrying and learn essentially the satisfaction gained to love conspiracy in convincing the people. And in theorists. After all, if the golden age of conspiracy, it’s something in your life easier than ever to reach them. is that troubling, a “With the Kennedy assassina- reasonable tion, it took a couple of years for explanation for the conspiracy theories to get out it probably

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Government girth through ever-denser networks The federal government is of political appointees,” and getting thicker and taller, the creation of new congression- according to a new study ally mandated positions, such released by Paul Light of the as inspector general or chief Brookings Institution. Light information offi cer. has found that thanks to The consequence of what Congress and U.S. presidents, Light calls government “thick- new layers “of political and ening” is slower decision- career management” are being making because information added to the federal bureaucratic hierarchy. and directives have to pass through additional In 1961, there were just 451 senior titleholders layers, less effective oversight because supervisors in the federal bureaucracy; today, there are 2,592. have to peel back so many layers, and bloated Some understandable explanations account for support staffs. For example, Light notes, “having this. Light notes that the expanding role of the a chief of staff has become a signal of one’s federal government, embodied by the emergence importance in the bureaucratic pecking order.” of new agencies such as the Department of According to Light’s research, only one depart- Homeland Security, accounts for some of the ment secretary had a chief of staff in 1981. Today, growth. It also can be blamed on the use of all but one of the 15 department secretaries has promotions and titles rather than pay for rewards, chiefs of staff. “the effort to control the federal bureaucracy – A.W.D.

Phone a friend into Kosovo. When Clark ordered helped Iraqi rebel leader Moqtada The London Telegraph recently Jackson to deploy a British al Sadr in late 2003 and 2004. reported that Lt. Gen. Ricardo helicopter assault team to block Sometimes a show of force speaks Sanchez, head of coalition forces the Russians at the Pristina louder than a phone call. in Iraq, ordered thousands of airport, the British general British troops indirectly under his answered with Al-Qaida South command to prepare for a terse and Washington has put govern- attacks against Iranian chilling ments throughout Latin America military units that had rejoinder: on alert about a possible al-Qaida surged into Iraq in July “I’m not effort to gain a toehold in the 2003. The British didn’t going to start region, according to the Associ- exactly follow the World War III ated Press. U.S. offi cials worry general’s orders, for you.” After that Central America’s restive however. Instead, both men appealed people, drug cartels and weak they deferred the to their national com- governments could provide a toxic problem to the manders – a practice mix for al-Qaida, making the U.S. foreign permitted under NATO’s homeland an easy target for cross- ministry, unwieldy war-fi ghting border attacks. which conventions – cooler heads They are focusing their search worked in Washington and London on Adnan el Shukrijumah, who, out a concluded that NATO’s unity like Osama bin Laden, is a Saudi solution was more important than Koso- ex-patriot. The Honduran govern- after a week vo’s airport. A humiliated Clark ment confi rmed this summer that of telephone was forced to rescind his order. Shukrijumah was in the country, diplomacy. In the case of the Basra border, and the Panamanian government The incident, which it doesn’t appear Sanchez ever says the terror-cell leader was started when Iranian border ordered an attack – just prepara- tracked moving through Panama guards tried to advance their tions for an attack. The British prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. observation posts in the Basra worried that engaging Iranian Whether or not al-Qaida is able area, calls to mind a similar forces would have widened the to plant a cell in Central America, dispute at the end of the Kosovo confl ict. Of course, one wonders if the threat is yet another reason air campaign in 1999. At that by dealing in such a gentlemanly why U.S. and Mexican offi cials time, NATO military chief Wesley manner with Iran the coalition need to redouble their efforts to Clark and NATO peacekeeping unwittingly opened the door to secure the border in a manner that commander Michael Jackson further Iranian interference in preserves legal immigration while came to verbal blows over a postwar Iraq. It is now widely preventing illegal immigration. Russian unit’s surprise advance confi rmed that Iranian agents – Alan W. Dowd

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eople would eat sweet potatoes on days other than PThanksgiving if Dr. Susie Nanney, assistant professor in the Obesity Prevention Center at St. Louis University, had her way. “People aren’t eating the fruits and vegetables that contain the most nutrients,” says Nanney, author of recent research in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. “People are quite frankly confused about nutrition.” Most Americans recognize a healthy diet should include at least fi ve fruits and vegetables, but they’re not making the most nutritious choices because mes- sages about what to eat are vitamins A and C, betacarotene n Green. Add more dark lettuces, unclear, research concludes. and fi ber – the so-called “power- such as romaine and red leaf The most popular fruits and house” fruits and veggies – lettuce, spinach, broccoli and vegetables – corn, potatoes, reduces the risk of chronic dis- Brussels sprouts to replace iceberg iceberg lettuce, apples and banan- eases. Yet people don’t know lettuce and green beans. as – aren’t as rich in nutrients as which foods work better than n Yellow/orange. Substitute more other foods. others, Nanney says. carrots, winter squashes, sweet “While people understand they “Until nutrition messages potatoes, cantaloupe, oranges and should eat a variety of fruits and become more consistent and grapefruit for corn or bananas. vegetables each day, they are not direct, we may not see improve- n Red. Select tomatoes, red translating ‘variety’ in a way to ments in powerhouse vegetable peppers and strawberries in lieu capture health benefi ts, such as and fruit intake behaviors to any of apples. reducing their risk of developing great extent,” she says. “When we look at how to get chronic diseases,” Nanney says. So which fruits and veggies the most bang for your buck, it’s “I’m just asking them to expand have the most power in keeping by eating these other fruits and their interpretation of diets.” you healthy? Those that do the vegetables instead of the tradi- Nanney, a dietitian, notes that best job in reducing the health tional choices,” Nanney says. the U.S. Department of Agricul- risk for chronic disease are dark “We are not saying apples and ture, the Department of Health green leafy vegetables, yellow/ other traditional fruits are not and Human Services, the Ameri- orange vegetables, citrus, and healthy choices. We are simply can Cancer Society, the American cruciferous vegetables such as saying that other fruits choices Heart Association and other cabbage, turnips, broccoli, offer higher benefi ts. Don’t stop health groups offer confl icting radishes, horseradish and alyssum. eating apples and the like, but messages about which fruits and Even those guidelines can be rather add variety to your daily veggies are most nutritious. confusing, so Nanney suggests diet by including some of those “You can see how the public adding color to pack nutritional fruits and vegetables higher in gets confused by inconsistency in power in your diet: nutrient value.” the messages,” she says. n White. Eat caulifl ower more Research shows that eating often than potatoes, onions and Source: St. Louis University School fruits and vegetables rich in mushrooms. of Public Health

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Iraq or Afghanistan get individu- scars of war is VA’s primary This research, however, deals for al checkups before going over- mission. To do this, we need to the most part with clear causes seas. They receive vaccinations understand the effects of military and effects. Deployment research, before deployment, so any side deployments on health. For on the other hand, aims to shed effects can be identifi ed before instance, how do deployments light on poorly understood they are “in country.” They affect pre-existing medical connections between military are more fully educated than conditions? What is the impact of service and health – as is the their Gulf-War counterparts certain toxins in the body? What case with Gulf War Illness. about personal protective equip- long-term health risks do combat VA has a number of special ment and possible exposure to veterans face? centers dedicated to deployment toxins. Better records are kept VA and other federal agencies health research and education. of each soldier’s duty locations have committed substantial Foremost among them are the and adverse health events. And resources toward unraveling this new War-Related Illness Centers VA and DoD physicians have puzzle. Laboratory studies, for in Washington and East Orange, standardized the way they example, have shown that Agent N.J. Other resources include VA’s examine military personnel after Orange – one of several herbi- Environmental Epidemiology deployment. cides used in Vietnam to remove Service and Environmental A capstone of the collaboration trees that provided cover and Hazards Research centers in between VA and DoD is the food for the enemy – is linked to Boston and San Antonio. Millennium Cohort Study. This is a variety of serious health VA researchers in Boston the largest study of its kind ever problems, including several recently administered neuropsy- conducted. VA and DoD research- cancers. As a result, Vietnam chological tests to Gulf War ers will follow as many as War veterans with these condi- veterans. Veterans who reported 140,000 military personnel for up tions can get medical care from having taken pyridostigmine to 21 years to track changes in VA, and they may be eligible for bromide – a pill given to some their health. The effort – en- disability benefi ts. 250,000 Gulf War personnel as a dorsed by The American Legion In the case of Gulf War Illness, preventive treatment against and other veterans organizations clear answers are more diffi cult possible attack with the nerve gas – began in 2001 and has already to come by. GWI is a perplexing soman – performed worse than enrolled more than 79,000 cluster of symptoms such as those who had not taken the pill. service personnel. The study will fatigue, pain and memory loss. PB is one of several neurotoxins help answer questions that have In July, the Annals of Internal under investigation as possible long troubled researchers about Medicine published fi ndings factors in Gulf War Illness. the health effects of military from a 30-month clinical trial Last year, VA and DoD re- service. Findings will also guide that tested the antibiotic doxycy- searchers reported that veterans DOD and VA policy on health cline as a treatment for veterans who had been deployed to the care and benefi ts. For more with the condition. Bacterial Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991 are information on the study, visit infection is suspected as playing at nearly twice the risk for Lou Millenniumcohort.org. a role in the illness. But the Gehrig’s disease – a usually fatal study, involving 491 veterans at neurological disorder – compared Mindy Aisen, M.D., is deputy 26 VA and two DoD medical to veterans of the same era who director of research and develop- centers, found no benefi t for the did not serve in the Gulf. Prelimi- ment for the Veterans Health antibiotic. Other research is nary results from this landmark Administration. ongoing to identify other pos- study prompted VA in 2001 to sible causes of GWI and fi nd extend benefi ts to Gulf War Living Well is designed to provide effective treatments. veterans who subsequently general information. It is not develop the disease. intended to be, nor is it, medical Deployment Health Centers. advice. Readers should consult Much of VA’s total research Prescreening and Follow-up. their personal physicians when portfolio concerns health condi- Research to sort out the after- they have health problems.

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PNC Wagner passes away J. Addington Wagner of Becky Burch-Slack Battle Creek, Mich., champi- oned many causes during his year as national commander Portland wins Legion World Series of The American Legion, Nova Seafood of Portland, on route to the 2-0 win. The 1955 to 1956. He called for Maine, put away the Kennewick, winning run came in the second passage of the 1956 War Wash., Bandits 2-0 in the champi- inning, when Ryan Reid opened Veterans Security Bill and onship game of the 78th American with a double to left fi eld and formed a committee to Legion Baseball World Series at advanced to third on a ground out. closely study the results of Taylor Field’s Hansen Stadium in Reid stayed at third on an infi eld the Bradley Commission on Corvallis, Ore. single by Andrew Dvilinsky. He Veterans Pensions. Portland beat all three pre- scored when Neil Esposito ground- A World War II Navy tournament favorites: Boyertown, ed into a fi elder’s choice. Kenne- veteran, Wagner was award- Pa., Post 471 (52-2), Kennewick wick went for a double play, but ed a Purple Heart for injuries Post 34 (55-7) and Niwot/Boulder, Esposito outran it. Portland added received during a Japanese Colo., Post 10 (72-6). one more run in the seventh. air attack in which his leg In the series’ fi rst round, Brown, Powers and Reid all was shattered. He later Portland outlasted Niwot/Boulder made the All-Tournament team. participated in the initial 10-9. The team came back in the Brown was named Most Valuable occupation of Japan. second round to take out Edmond, Player, and Reid received the After the war, Wagner Okla., Post 111 9-5 and then James Daniel Sportsmanship joined Gen. George A. marched into the favorite role Award. Powers, 9-0 for the season, Custer Post 54 and began a after beating DeLand, Fla., Post 6, struck out seven in the champion- 59-year Legion career. He 8-3, to build a 3-0 record. No other ship game. Brown led all players served as post commander, team was unbeaten. with 20 hits in regional and World adjutant and service offi cer, Portland scored three runs in Series play. He hit .411 and had 14 as well as Michigan’s the bottom of the eighth to tie runs batted in. Reid was 5-0 on department commander with Boyertown, 3-3. Pitcher Scott the mound in tournament play, from 1950 to 1951. He also Brown’s RBI single down the with a 1.27 earned run average. served on the Americanism right-fi eld line won the game 4-3. He had 29 strikeouts in 21 1/3 Commission and was a Mike Powers one-hit Kennewick innings pitched. national vice commander. Wagner’s esteemed career ended in July when he died at the age of 90. Death benefi t reinstated Born Jan. 22, 1914, in Battle A federal law passed last prior to the enactment of the new Creek, Mich., he earned a law December, the Veterans Benefi ts law. One catch: individuals must degree in 1937 and served as Act of 2003, restores Dependency apply to VA before Dec. 16, 2004, chief assistant Battle Creek & Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for restoration of benefi ts. city attorney from 1946 to as well as eligibility for home To learn more about DIC and the 1948. He was active in loans, education and burial Veterans Benefi ts Act, call VA toll- numerous organizations. benefi ts to surviving spouses of free at (800) 827-1000. For assis- Wagner is survived by his veterans who died of service- tance in applying for benefi ts or to wife, Phyllis, and one son. related causes who remarried on locate the nearest American Legion or after their 57th birthday but service offi cer, call (800) 433-3318.

66 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine ADVERTISEMENT Is it a Cane? Is it a Bag? 5 reasons our “Death Begins In The Bowel” WalkingBagTM is better Many diseases gain their foothold in the bowel and invade your body causing pain, misery & even death! 1. It walks alongside you, not behind you! By Dr. Ron Gellatley tial if you suffer from diverticulitis. • Why put up with bloating, wind and 2. It’s lightweight & ou will be astonished to learn that a lot indigestion if you don’t have to? meets airline carry- of diseases which seem to have little to • Most people who are constipated take on requirements. Ydo with your bowel are actually caused fiber. Find out why some fibers can make 3. Requires 1/6th by a bowel suffocating with undischarged wastes. your condition worse, not better. the effort of • Antibiotics seem to be given out for almost other rolling luggage. Do you suffer from any of these everything and you should find out what complaints? they can do to you. 4. 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How to Submit a Reunion phone number and e-mail address. Send notices to The American Legion Magazine, Attn: “In Search Of,” P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206, The American Legion Magazine publishes reunion notices for veter- fax (317) 630-1280 or e-mail [email protected]. ans. Send notices to The American Legion Magazine, Attn: Reunions, The magazine will not publish the names of individuals, only the P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206, fax (317) 630-1280 or e-mail name of the unit from which you seek people. Listings are published free [email protected]. of charge. Include the branch of service and complete name of the group, no Life Membership notices are published for Legionnaires who have abbreviations, with your request. The listing also should include the been awarded life memberships by their posts. This does not include a reunion dates and city, along with a contact name, telephone number and member’s own Paid-Up-For-Life membership. Notices must be submitted e-mail address. Listings are published free of charge. on official forms, which may be obtained by sending a self-addressed Due to the large number of reunions, The American Legion Maga- stamped envelope to The American Legion Magazine, Attn: Life Mem- zine will publish a group’s listing only once a year. Notices should be berships, P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206. sent at least six months prior to the reunion to ensure timely publication. “Comrades in Distress” listings must be approved by the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation division. If you are seeking to verify an injury received during service, contact your Legion department service officer for information on how to publish a notice. Other Notices To respond to a “Comrades in Distress” listing, send a letter to The “In Search Of” is a means of getting in touch with people from your American Legion Magazine, Attn: Comrades in Distress, P.O. Box unit to plan a reunion. We do not publish listings that seek people for 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206. Include the listing’s CID number in your interviews, research purposes, military photos or help in filing a VA response. claim. Listings must include the name of the unit from which you seek “Taps” notices are published only for Legionnaires who served as people, the time period and the location, as well as a contact name, tele- department commanders or national officers.

ARMY 4/28-30, Patrick Riley, (716) 592-9823, (423) 949-3789 [email protected] ; USS Morton DD 3rd Bn 4th Mar Rgt 3rd Mar Div (Nara, 2nd Bn 47th Inf Rgt “Panthers” 9th 948, Charleston, SC, 5/25-29, John Kieft, Japan, 1953-1954), Tom Malone, (201) Inf Div (Vietnam), Columbus/Fort (541) 471-2777, morton66@highstream. 391-5563 Benning, GA, 4/21-23, Russ Vibberts, (860) net; USS Remora SS 487, Anaheim, CA, 8th Army Band (Seoul, 1950-1951), Lyle 684-2072, [email protected]; 3rd 3/19, Phil Schwartze, (949) 240-1322, McDole, (712) 551-1074 AAA 707th Gun Bn (1950-1953), Pigeon [email protected]; USS Saufley DD/DDE 8th Radio Research Field Stat (Phu Forge, TN, 5/10-13, Marvin Sanford, (901) 465, Ocean City, MD, 5/1-5, Bill Manning, Bai, Vietnam, 1967-1968), Paul Maidel, 357-5268, [email protected]; (302) 435-2855, [email protected] (503) 780-2731, [email protected] 47th Inf Rgt (All Wars), Columbus/Fort 9th Anti-Sub Sqdn (36th Street Army Benning, GA, 4/21-23, Russ Vibberts, (860) USS Tolovana AO 64, Charleston, AB, Miami, 1941-1943), John Ogden, 684-2072 , [email protected] SC, 2/24-27, Erich Utecht, (541) 469- (281) 337-3494, [email protected] 0507, usstolovana@carrollsweb. 15th Cav (1943-2004), George Patterson, 61st FA Bn, Branson, MO, 4/14-16, Bill com; USS Wahoo SS 565, San Diego, Stewart, (812) 894-2802, wespjs@aol. (732) 872-1397, [email protected] 5/5-7, Tom Young, (603) 362-5781, com; 199th Light Inf Bde & Attached 17th Armd Eng Bn H&S Co Softball [email protected]; USS Units Bde XXXIX (Vietnam & Champs Trav League (Dexheim, Yellowstone AD 27, Charleston, SC, Cambodia, 1966-1970), Arlington, VA, Germany, 1954), Ed Schweiss, (724) 5/12-14, Paul Bowen, (352) 854-1387, 5/27-30, Peter Joannides, (703) 448-0199, 962-5990 [email protected]; VC-7, Reno, NV, [email protected]; 519th & 531st 24th Eng Co Maint (Kornwestheim, Mil Bns (Yokohama, 1945-47), Dallas, May, Joe D’Ambrosio, (916) 689-6924, Germany, 1961-1964), Garey Bowman, 4/22-23, Cliff Steely, (903) 645-2845, [email protected] (706) 234-0785 [email protected] 29th Tank Bn 2nd Armd Div B Co VC/VAW-11/VAW West, Pensacola, FL, (Baumholder, Germany, 1952-1954), 815th Eng Bn, Fort Leonard Wood, 11/11-13, Bob Allwine, (425) 255-7510, Clarence Ostrowski, (715) 824-6096, MO, 5/19-21, Roffie Burt, (601) 833- [email protected] [email protected] 67th Tank Bn 2nd Armd Div A Co 4489, [email protected]; Delta Co LIFE MEMBERSHIPS 2nd Bn 8th Cav (Abn) 1st Cav Div (Geisenheim, Germany, 1951-1952), Airmobile (Vietnam), Las Vegas, Post 44, AZ: Jerrold W. Lennemann Clarence Ostrowski, (715) 824-6096, 5/19-22, Rich O’Brien, (630) 941-8727, Post 104, FL: Raymond F. Fnourek, [email protected] [email protected] Steven D. Haggett 124th Army Band (Yokohama, Japan, Post 47, MN: Richard Murtaugh 1947-1950), Lyle McDole, (712) 551-1074 COAST GUARD Post 5, NJ: Joseph R. Buffa 126th Ord Bn B Co (Monteith Post 162, NJ: Richard Grill Barracks, Fuerth, Germany, 1960- USCGC Rockaway & Sister Cutters, 1964), Don Morgan, (314) 631-4748, Phoenix, 4/29-5/1, Chief Harris, (623) Post 1087, NY: Arthur F. McLean Post 1578, NY: John T. O’Brien [email protected] 933-2226, [email protected] 372nd FA Bn (WWII), Kevin Tierney, (619) COMRADES IN DISTRESS 545-5091, [email protected] NAVY 417th TFS (Ramstein, Germany, Naval Crypt Vets Assn New Eng Chpt, VMGR-352 3rd MCAW, El Toro, CA 1960-1964), Bill Brown, (608) 838-2282, Saratoga Springs, NY, 4/15-16, Bob Marois, (1967-1969). Johnny W. Busby seeks [email protected] (518) 237-0015, [email protected]; Naval witnesses of KC-130 supply flights 459th Sig Const Bn Avn (WWII), Weather Svc Assn, Branson, MO, 5/4-7, in and out of Vietnam from Futema, Howard Bartholf, (804) 364-2603, Don Cruse, (703) 524-9067, don.cruse@ Okinawa. CID 1468 [email protected] verizon.net; USS Donner LSD 20, Mobile, 463rd Sig Heavy Const (Okinawa, AL, 5/1-4, Tom Nelson, (618) 656-0131, IN SEARCH OF WWII), Al Daniels, (352) 753-8820, [email protected]; USS Grenadier 1st Bn 76th FA 3rd Inf Div (Germany, [email protected] SS 210/525, Branson, MO, 5/11-15, Jimmy 1963-1968), Chester Ball, (903) 965- 571st Ord Co (Phu Bai & Quang Tri, Brown, (410) 639-7619, [email protected] 4588, [email protected] Vietnam, 1968-1969), James Steagall, 1st Cav Div 16th Recon Co (1951- (704) 484-2724 USS Kirkpatrick DE/DER 318, 1953), John Creech, (440) 356-1425, 645th Tank Dest Bn 45th Thunderbird Newport, RI, 5/22-25, Jim King, (757) [email protected] Div (WWII), Hank Hatty, (504) 362-9724 424-0149, [email protected]; USS 1st Msl Bn 39th Arty (Hanua, 696th Ord Co Ammo (Korea, 1961- Lang DD 399/FF 1060, French Lick, Germany, 1960-1963), Fritz Reader, 1962), Paul Steen, (507) 445-3131 IN, 5/19-22, Bea Crosson, (216) 731- (508) 228-5732 844th AAA AW Bn B Btry (Camp 0687, [email protected]; USS LSD 3rd Armd Div 2/32 Armor (Kirchgoens, Stewart, WWII), Robert Slater, (201) 21 (Fort Mandan), Nashville, TN, Germany, 1970-1971), Gary Patton, 939-5674, [email protected]

68 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine comrades

3916th AB Sq SAC (RAF TAPS Nat’l Overseas Graves Decoration Trust Lindholme, England, 1954-1957), Memb. 1958-1961, Nat’l Advisory Cmte. Theodore L. Floros, Dept. of California. Ralph Falcon, (210) 674-6324, to Nat’l Cmdr. Chmn. 1959-1960, Nat’l Nat’l Sec. Cncl. Vice Chmn. 1974-2004, [email protected] Overseas Graves Decoration Trust Vice and Nat’l Legis. Cncl. Memb. 1981-1982 7312th ABRON (Giebelstadt, Germany, and 1989-1990. Chmn. 1959-1960, Nat’l Advisory Cmte. 1955-1958), Raymond Boudreau, (586) Douglas D. Kramer, Dept. of Idaho. to Nat’l Cmdr. Vice Chmn. 1960-1961 755-2554 Nat’l Distinguished Guests Cmte. and 1963-1964, Nat’l Spec. Liaison A Co 701st MP Bn (Presidio, San Memb. 1956-1957, Nat’l Child Welfare Cmte. to U.S. Dept. of State Chmn. Francisco, 1951-1953), William Nemec, Cmsn. 1958-1959, Dept. Cmdr. 1959- 1963-1964, Nat’l A.L. Endowment (701) 221-2564 1960, Nat’l Agriculture & Conservation Fund Corp. Memb. 1965-1975, Nat’l B Co 1st Bn 47th Inf Div 171st Bde Cmte. Chmn. 1960-1961, Alt. Nat’l Exec. Advisory Cmte. to Nat’l Cmdr. Ex-Officio (Fort Wainwright, AK, 1968-1970), Cmte. Memb. 1960-1962, Nat’l Econ. Memb. 1967-1974, Nat’l Pub. Cmsn. Patrick Burke, (716) 692-5240 Cmsn. Vice Chmn. 1961, Nat’l Foreign Liaison Cmte. Memb. 1969-1970 and B Co 35th Inf Rgt 25th Inf Div (Korean Relations Cmsn. Vice Chmn. 1961-1962, The American Legion Magazine Cmsn. War), Bill Wenzel, 675 Grand Ave., Nat’l Exec. Cmte. Memb. 1962-1964, Liaison Memb. 1970-1971. Prairie du Sac, WI 53578 Nat’l Foreign Relations Cmsn. Liaison Ernest J. Pescosolido, Dept. of Base Sig Tower (Pearl Harbor, June Cmte. Memb. 1962-1964, Nat’l Foreign Massachusetts. Nat’l Rehab. Cmsn. 1951-June 1953), John McBroom, (405) Relations Cncl. Vice Chmn. 1972-1973 Advisory Board Memb. 1977-1978 and 348-6245, [email protected] and Nat’l Legis. Cncl. Memb. 1975-1977. 1980-1981, Dept. Cmdr. 1978-1979, Nat’l C Btry 550th AAA Bn (Camp Preston J. Moore, Dept. of Oklahoma. Aerospace Cmte. Memb. 1979-1997, Steward, GA, 1953), Frank DuClos, Dept. Cmdr. 1948-1949, Alt. Nat’l Exec. Nat’l Law & Order Cmte. Memb. 1980- (510) 266-0897 Cmte. Memb. 1951-1955, Nat’l Sec. 1981, Nat’l Legis. Cncl. Memb. 1981- C Co 3rd Med Bn 3rd Mar Div Tng. Cmte. Vice Chmn. 1952-1953, Nat’l 1982, Nat’l Veterans Affairs & Rehab. (Okinawa, Jan 1961-Apr 1962), Legis. Cmsn. Liaison Cmte. Memb. Cmsn. Regional Memb. 1997-2004, Larry Makoben, 3964 Partridge Circle, 1955-1957, Nat’l Exec. Cmte. Memb. Nat’l Veterans Affairs & Rehab. Cmsn. Bettendorf, IA 52722, imakoben@ 1955-1958, Nat’l Advisory Cmte. to Nat’l Regional Vice Chmn. 2000-2001 and ihmvcu.org Cmdr. Memb. 1956-1957, Nat’l Sec. Nat’l Veterans Affairs & Rehab. Cmsn. C Co 83rd Eng Const Bn (Captieux Ord Cmsn. Liaison Cmte. Memb. 1957-1958 Regional Memb. 2001-2002. Depot, France, 1954-1955), Phil Vein, and 1959-1962, Nat’l Cmdr. 1958-1959, Matthew Skidmore Sr., Dept. of (818) 501-5867, [email protected] Nat’l Finance Cmsn. Ex-Officio Memb. Maryland. Nat’l Foreign Relations Cncl. Co 21 (Hosp Corpsman “A” School, 1958-1959, Nat’l Overseas Graves Vice Chmn. 1988-2004 and Dept. Cmdr. Great Lakes, IL, 1969), Bob Eberlein, Decoration Trust Chmn. 1958-1959, 1992-1993. (574) 277-3128, [email protected] D Co 120th Cbt Eng Bn 45th Inf Div (Korea, 1952-1953), Don Bresnan, (215) 725-8272, [email protected] CLASSIFIED Flt 101 Sqdn 3774 (Sheppard AFB, TX, Sept-Nov 1948), Buster Rogers, (317) SEND ADVERTISING COPY AND REMITTANCE TO: MISCELLANEOUS 858-3863, [email protected] Joan Rizzo, Classified Advertising, The American Flt 4491 (Sampson AFB, July 1955), Legion Magazine, c/o Fox Associates, Inc., 347 WWW.ASHESANDBUTTS.COM. Discount tax free 5th Ave., Suite 1110, New York, NY 10016. (212) tobacco products, (866) 362-5346. $5 off first Herbert Andrew III, (410) 822-4794, order. Quantity discounts available. [email protected] 725-2106, FAX (212) 779-1928. All classified advertising is payable in advance by check or MUSIC/MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HQ & HQ Det 8th Log Cmd Post Sig money order. Please make remittance payable (Livorno, Italy, Mar 1965-Sept 1966), to “The American Legion Magazine.” RATES: DEERING BANJO COMPANY offers discounts to Tony Bassano, (408) 295-1634 $24 per word. Count street addresses and box veterans on quality banjos from $399. Ameri- MACS-4 (Iwakuni, Japan, Nov 1960- numbers as two words; all city, state and zip can made. Free catalog, (800) 845-7791, www. codes as three words. CIRCULATION: 2,550,000 deeringbanjos.com. Sept 1962), R.I. “Butch” Kaske, (760) per month. DEADLINE: Advertising copy must 931-2644, [email protected] be received 60 days before cover date of issue OF INTEREST TO ALL MACV Advisory Team 55 (Rach Gia, desired. 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November 2004 69 The American Legion Magazine

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70 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Need sleep? MOVING???? Get the best night’s sleep you have ever had!

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November 2004 71 The American Legion Magazine parting shots Why do we choose between two people for president and 50 for Miss America?

AN ANGRY MOTORIST went back to a garage where he’d purchased an expensive battery for his car six months earlier. “Listen,” the motorist grumbled to the owner of the garage, “when I bought that battery you said it would be the last battery my car would ever need. It died after only six months!” “Sorry,” the garage owner apologized. “I didn’t think your car would last any longer than that.”

A DEFENDANT, in a lawsuit involving a large sum of money, spoke to his lawyer. “If I lose the case, I’ll be ruined,” he said. “It’s in the judge’s hands now,” “Oh, yeah, Dan ... looks perfectly natural.” the lawyer said. “Would it help if I sent the judge a box of cigars?” for the tip about the cigars. “Oh, no,” the lawyer responded. It worked.” “This judge is a stickler for ethical “I’m sure we would have behavior. A stunt like that would lost the case if you had sent prejudice him against you. He them.” might even hold you in contempt “But I did send them.” of court. In fact, you shouldn’t “You did?” even smile at the judge.” “Yes. That’s how we won Days later, the judge rendered a the case.” decision in favor of the defendant. “I don’t understand,” the As the man left the courthouse lawyer said. with his lawyer, he said, “Thanks “It’s easy. I sent the cigars to the judge, but I enclosed the plaintiff’s business card.”

AN OBVIOUSLY “I like these helmets. They make pregnant woman you hard to kiss.” and her husband sat in the obstetri- WHEN I WAS YOUNG we used cian’s waiting to go skinny-dipping. Now I just room. The wife “chunky dunk.” looked at a lamp and commented on A FATHER, reading a Bible story how lovely it was. to his young children, said, “The Her husband gave man named Lot was warned to her an anguished take his wife and fl ee out of the look and wailed, city, but his wife looked back and “Don’t tell me was turned to salt.” you’re starting to His son asked, “What hap- “What we need is a mad turkey disease!” crave furniture!” pened to the fl ea?”

72 November 2004 The American Legion Magazine Asbestos Cancer Hits Former Sailors

Many sailors who served their country proudly aboard ships in the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam War eras, are now being diagnosed with asbestos-related cancers.

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